Creative Economy – Creative Solutions

There are two things that virtually every American believes. You can own your own home and you can make your own living. True, not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur but the power of the option is unassailable.

Independent fishermen are a prime example of entrepreneurship. They invest in their businesses, they strive to be their own bosses and they work hard to provide for their families. Imagine owning a business that every related economic variable is negative. What would you do? Many would be discouraged to the point of defeat. That is the place ground fishermen found themselves in 2007. The Maine fleet of ground fishermen had declined from 350 boats to 70. Stocks were declining, costs of operation were spiraling upward, days at sea were cut by increased regulation and global climate change impacted the stock in ways yet to be defined. Every market indicator pointed to the demise of the industry.

Photo:Peter Ralston
Port Clyde fishermen, as notoriously independent as any fisherman you may know, banded together to save their businesses. They knew to survive they would have to be creative and look at a centuries old business model in new ways. They formed a cooperative, leased a dock for joint use and forced themselves to look at the obstacles that confronted them. They had to seek an alternative way to sustain their businesses.

Two things evolved. They learned to brand their product and they educated their market on the importance of ground fish to the informed consumer. They learned from the example of organic farmers and the Community Supported Agriculture model.

The educated consumer wants to know where their food comes from, how it is acquired and most importantly that it is fresh. Fresh means local. The price for these assurances can be somewhat higher but what is more important than knowing that you are serving the freshest seasonal food available.
The Midcoast Fishermen’s Cooperative launched a Community Supported Fishery (CSF) that allows consumers to buy harvest shares. In two years the number of share holders has grown from 35 to 350. In addition to shares the cooperative has offered its product at local farmer’s markets and a restaurant demand has also developed.

Photo: Kim Libby
The CSF serves shareholders from Bath to Mt. Desert. To better serve their customers the cooperative has built its own processing plant and the supposed issues of dissent fostered by independence have been mitigated by the results.

The Midcoast Fishermen’s Cooperative has proven you can preserve heritage and livelihood by looking at old problems as new opportunities.

Post courtesy of Lee Heffner, Midcoast Magnet blogger