Fishermen Feeding Mainers began in late 2020 to address surging food and fuel costs affecting Maine groundfishing and to help with local food insecurity. The program raises money to purchase locally caught fish, process it, and donate frozen fillets to schools and food banks across Maine. It has spent more than $4 million to buy and process about 1.3 million pounds of locally caught fish. The program provided a lifeline after COVID-19 reduced demand when restaurants closed, which caused fish prices to collapse. It also expanded access to fish for institutions that do not usually serve it, including public schools. The Maine Coast Fishermen's Association operates the program and has donated more than 1.8 million meals since October 2020.
"Fishermen Feeding Mainers began in late 2020 and raises money to buy locally caught fish, process it and donate the frozen fillets to schools and food banks in Maine. So far, it has spent more than $4 million on the purchasing and processing of about 1.3 million pounds of locally caught fish."
"Before this [program], chances were you could get down to some really scary-low prices. That's in part because the market for local fish dried up early in the COVID-19 pandemic when restaurants closed to in-person dining. "COVID destroyed all fish prices," Campbell said."
"The arrival of the program threw a lifeline to Maine's struggling groundfishermen, who target bottom-dwelling species like cod and haddock. It also offered a free food source to locals at a time of worsening food insecurity. Now in its sixth year, Fishermen Feeding Mainers is helping local fishing crews deal with persistent financial pressures and is also affording places that don't usually offer fish such as public schools a chance to serve it up."
""A lot of parents, teachers, even nutritional staff were kind of hesitant about it at first, because they're like, 'Kids don't like fish,'" said Mary Hudson, director of fisheries programs at the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association, which operates the program. "They love it." The Maine Coast Fishermen's Association has donated more than 1.8 million meals to food banks, schools and other institutions since October 2020."
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]