What is Off the Hook?
Off the Hook is a Community Supported Fishery (CSF) cooperative started by 5 fishermen from the Digby area with support from the Ecology Action Centre. It aims to connect people with the fish they eat and the people who catch it.
What is a CSF?
A Community Supported Fishery (CSF) works the same as the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) model: subscribers pay a fee at the beginning of the season for a weekly share of food (in this case, fish). Through a CSF, subscribers buy their fish directly from the people who catch it- there are no middlemen. Fishermen get a fair price for their catch, and subscribers get fresh, sustainably caught fish.
What type of fish do I get?
During the summer months, most of the fish provided by Off the Hook fishermen is haddock, with the occasional hake & ocean pollock. The fish are generally 2 to 3 pounds each. This year, we will also be offering limited quantities of halibut and mackerel to our subscribers when available.
How is Off the Hook fish caught?
Most of the fish available at the grocery store is caught by large commercial bottom trawlers. Trawling (or “dragging”) is a destructive fishing method that involves dragging a large net over the ocean floor causing indiscriminate damage and catching anything in its path. Much of the trawler caught fish is landed in Nova Scotia, sent to China to be processed, only to be shipped back to be sold as local. Often there is no way to tell where the fish you get from the store is from or how it was caught.
