11/6/2023 0 Comments Fresh harvest cafeHaving a licensed facility to process and sell their catch out of is a game changer for Dodge and Jarvis and the other fishers in the Westerly area. He primarily fishes rod and reel but worked on an oyster farm when he had engine trouble last year and he will also go shell fishing on occasion. “I grew up with sustenance fishing- we went and caught fish and brought them home and ate them.”īy now Jarvis has worked on many types of fishing boats and has his own two smaller boats, Jake Jr. But all I had to do was cut fish and I knew how to do that-so that’s what I did and the rest is history,” says Jarvis. “I worked for him for a week, monkfish and skate fishing, and I was sick all day. His brother needed crew and showed up at Jarvis’s workplace one day and persuaded him to come fishing. Jarvis actually started in commercial fishing while working as a social worker. A bigger boat will allow him to fish more frequently (it can go out farther and in worse weather) and target more species of fish. He primarily fishes rod and reel, fish pots and lobster traps from the boat but recently acquired a larger boat from which he can gillnet. He now fishes for himself and runs his own boat, the FV Edrie and Logan, named after his youngest daughter and son. Josiah Dodge has fished his whole life, spending time on the Cape with his father and fishing for some of the larger fish houses in Point Judith. One of Dodge’s ancestors is Tresum Dodge, who in 1661 was paid with three-and- a-half acres of land to leave the Massachusetts colony and go to Block Island to fish. ANCHORED IN THE SEAīoth Dodge and Jarvis come from fishing families. The project is led by fishermen Josiah Dodge and Jason Jarvis and by Gina Fuller, district manager at the conservation district. The Fresh Harvest Kitchen is a collaboration between the Southern Rhode Island Conservation District, local independent fishers and small-scale farmers to open and operate a cooperatively run, fully licensed, shared commercial kitchen and processing facility with a retail and wholesale market. FRESH TAKEįresh Harvest Kitchen in Westerly is looking to present an alternative, a different kind of fish market where there are no display cases catering to what the consumer demands and no imported fish, only seasonal local seafood, caught by local fishermen to feed the people in their community. Instead of squid, butterfish, scup, whiting, black sea bass, fluke, skate, quahogs and Jonah crabs, our options frequently consist merely of shrimp, salmon, tuna, swordfish and some kind of flakey white fish (some of which might be local but much is imported). Our markets, menus and plates generally do not reflect the diversity of seafood produced by our local ecosystems or of seafood caught in our local fisheries. These support healthy fish populations and economic and culturally important fishing communities, and have the potential to fill those display cases with a wide array of delicious local seafood.Īnd yet, in most markets we are lucky to find even a few locally caught species. In Rhode Island, we are lucky: We have access to very productive marine ecosystems, just steps from our shores. When you walk into most fish markets, your eyes are drawn to a display case where fish and shellfish are nicely lined up on ice for you to peruse before making your decision. Feeding the Community Through Collaboration, Education and Local Seafood
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