While there was a lot of ballyhoo over the reenactment of the amphibious landing by the British troops to Charlestown’s shores during this past weekend’s 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill at Stage Fort Park, a much smaller water landing of a dory on Cressy’s Beach held a lot significance for the future of Gloucester’s fishing industry.
America’s oldest seaport, whose maritime and fishing heritage predates the Battle of Bunker Hill by 152 years, is refreshing its Gloucester Fresh seafood program touting the availability of the city’s fresh catch in restaurants.
And Stage Fort Park, where the historic battle reenactment took place over the weekend, was where Gloucester’s first settlers arrived and set up fishing stages to dry fish, according to multiple websites.
This set the stage for the city’s long and storied fishing industry, one that has faced hardships, from the challenges and dangers fishers face at sea to an at times over-regulated fishery.
On Saturday about 2:30 p.m., Gloucester Community Development Director Alex Koppelman and Fisheries Commission Executive Director Al Cottone were towed in a dory from the docks at the Harbormaster’s Office before Edmund Aguirre and Lenny Biondo rowed the dory onto Cressy’s Beach where Battle of Bunker Hill Provincial reenactors had encamped overnight and met the landing party.
They landed the dory, bringing with them a barrel of salted cod that was authentic to colonial times. Turner’s Seafood also donated 10 gallons of chowder to feed the reenactors, Koppelman said.
The Gloucester Fresh program, funded by the city, started several years ago as a way to promote Gloucester’s fresh catch in area restaurants. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and that along with shifting priorities put Gloucester Fresh on the backburner.
“Now is a great time to reenergize the program,” Koppelman said.
The program will have some new elements, focusing on sustainability, including a proposed recycling program of oyster and clam shells, as the shells can be used to grow oysters. Two new restaurants have since come on board, Oak to Ember on Rogers Street, which has been creating dishes with locally caught monkfish, and The Lobster of Gloucester on East Main Street, which serves up plenty of freshly caught lobster, he said.
The program’s leaders hope to bring in more restaurants both in Gloucester and in the surrounding area committing to serving fresh Gloucester seafood.
Ninety percent of the seafood Americans eat is imported: it’s either caught elsewhere and shipped here, or caught here and shipped outside the U.S. to be processed and then reimported, Koppelman said.
“To get it straight from the ocean is a pretty great thing,” he said. The promotion of the local catch benefits fishermen, those employed or connected to the fishing industry, and local eateries.
Among those on hand to greet the small landing party were Mayor Greg Verga, state Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, who was in the period garb as a participant in the battle reenactment, and City Council President Tony Gross, who serves at-large.
“The Gloucester Fresh program is important because it connects fresh, locally harvested seafood with consumers, giving the fishing industry an effective way to market its products,” Tarr said to the Times in a text message, “and residents and visitors have the experience of eating fish sustainably caught by fishermen who continue Gloucester’s oldest and most historic trade.”
After the landing, Verga said Gloucester Fresh serves as a “bait-to-plate” program, working with local fishermen bringing in Gloucester-harvested fish, and with processors and restaurants who commit to serve the local catch. Gloucester fish have fed the nation for more than 400 years and its fleet has fed the troops from the Revolution until now.
Cottone, a commercial fisherman and the captain of F/V Sabrina Maria, told the reenactors the program started about 2017 to 2018.
“We just wanted to promote the fish by putting a sticker in the window of restaurants and saying if you eat at this restaurant, at least one of the species served will be locally landed … so you are assured to have at least one locally landed seafood at all the restaurants. And that’s what we strive to do and it’s been very successful,” Cottone said.
“During COVID,” he told the reenactors, “we kind of got a little set back, obviously, and now we are trying to ramp it up again and this is part of it, and I hope you will all come back to Gloucester, look for the Gloucester Fresh symbol in the windows of the restaurants, and you will be guaranteed fresh fish.”
Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714, or at eforman@northofboston.com.