On Friday afternoon we learned that Off the Hook was named as one of two runners up in National Geographic's "Solution Search" contest. There were 103 entries from all over the world, and we are really honoured to have been named as one of the top three.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support, and for spreading the word about Off the Hook. As one of the runners up, we win a $5000 grant to go towards our work, and a trip to Washington D.C. to meet with key stakeholders in international fisheries management. In addition to the grant and the trip we hope that the exposure we get through this contest will encourage more fishing communities to get involved, and more people to start asking where their seafood comes from, who harvested it, and how.

Again, thank you for supporting small scale sustainable fishing.

-Off the Hook

Holiday Lobster

Orlie and his crew left the wharf before dawn this morning to catch lobster for tomorrow's  delivery. He'll call in for a final count at noon today, so if you are planning to order lobster for Christmas Eve, please place your order by then. You can order online by clicking here. Lobsters are $10 each (they will be about 1 1/2 pounds each), and can be picked up at the Brewery Market on Saturday (the 24th) between 11 am and 1 pm.  Lobster will also be available on New Year's Eve. If you need any tips on how to handle or cook your lobster, please don't hesitate to ask. If you have a cooler, please bring it to the market.

Off the Hook Gift Certificates

We have had several inquiries about buying Off the Hook subscriptions as gifts for friends, neighbors, and family. You can now buy gift certificates online by clicking here. Certificates are good towards any Off the Hook subscription or special catch such as lobster, halibut or mackerel. Haddock, Cod & Hake subscriptions will be available as early as February, depending on how the lobster season goes! You can pay online with any credit card through paypal. Once we receive your order, we will email you a gift certificate that you can print out or email to a friend- just in time for Christmas.

"Turning the Tide for Coastal Fisheries"

We are really excited to have been named North America's only finalist in National Geographic's global contest aimed at finding innovative, community based solutions to overfishing. The winner will be decided by an online vote- and if we win, we get $20,000 to continue our work, and a chance to meet with key fisheries stakeholders and international policy makers at National Geographic's headquarters in Washington D.C. If you have already voted, then THANK YOU. If you haven't yet- you only have 1 more day to vote! To vote, click here. Voting is a little tricky- for step by step instructions, click here.

Thank you

Finally, we wanted to thank you for your continued support and interest in Off the Hook. We know that buying your fish from a super market may be cheaper and more convenient, but by buying your fish through Off the Hook, you are supporting coastal communities and the environment by ensuring that fishing families earn a fair wage for fishing sustainably. We look forward to bringing fresh, fair fish to more communities in the new year, and continuing to raise awareness about sustainable seafood. Happy Holidays, from our families to yours.

                The Thurbers                                 The Hudsons                           The Gillises

            The Dixons

We are pleased to announce that fresh, live, hard-shell lobster caught by Off the Hook will be available this holiday season. There will be two delivery dates: Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) and New Year's Eve (Dec. 31). Both deliveries will be at the Halifax Brewery Market from 11 am to 1 pm in the lower courtyard (the same area where we parked the truck for the fish pickups). Lobsters are $10 each, and average 1 1/2 pounds each. Lobster must be ordered in advance so we know how many to bring. You can pay by cash, cheque, or credit card (through Paypal). To order, click here.

If weather prevents us from safely getting out on the water and making the Christmas Eve delivery, we will deliver your lobster the following week (on New Year's Eve). If the New Year's Eve delivery is cancelled, we will refund your order. By buying lobster through Off the Hook, you are insuring that the people who catch your lobster get a fair price for their catch. A portion of the proceeds go to the habitat stewardship and fisheries conservation efforts of Off the Hook.

We need to sell at least 500 lobsters to make this work, so please spread the word! Thank you for supporting Off the Hook.

Happy Holidays,

Dave

Off the Hook has been named one of the ten finalists in National Geographic‘s Solution Search: Turning the Tide for Coastal Fisheries. This is a global contest to surface and recognize community-based innovations for near-shore fisheries based on proven successes. There were 103 entries from 48 countries, and Off the Hook was the only entry from North America to make it to the top ten. The next step is an online vote. Click on the button to the right to see all of the entries (there are some very cool ones)- and then register and vote for Off the Hook.

Beau is on his way with some very fresh fish. A lot of it. Today's regular pickup, combined with the extra orders we got for the "Fillet Fest" amounted to 118 whole fish, and 455 pounds of fillets. He landed last night with the catch, worked late into the night sorting the fish and slushing it down, and is at the fillet plant now getting the fish cut. If you want fish any fresher, you're going to need a boat.

We expected that we would need a lot of fish this week, so Beau had planned on heading down to the Brown's Banks fishing grounds. Unfortunately, the storm on Sunday put an end to that plan, and Beau was forced to wait until Tuesday for the sea to calm and then head out on the Bay of Fundy. Brown's is a long trip (it's about 100 nautical miles away) but there have been reports of a lot of fish down there lately, and fishing at Brown's is less restricted by the tide. In the Bay of Fundy the tidal current is so strong that you can only fish during "slack tide" (1 hour on either side of high or low tide), when the tidal current is at its weakest. In this part of the world we have a semi-diurnal tide (two high tides and two low tides each lunar day). This means that about every 6 hours there is a two hour window that can be safely fished. Bottom hook and line fishers set their baited hooks at the beginning of this window, let it sit for as long as possible, and then haul it up before the current takes it away. If everything goes right, a boat can fish two tides in one day. This week, Beau managed to fish two tides on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday. To catch fish safely in a sustainable, traditional way, a lot of things need to go right. This week they did. Nice work, Beau.

All pickups are expected to run on schedule today. As a reminder, here are the pickup details:

Halifax: Thursdays 3-6 pm: Brewery Market* 1496 Lower Water St, Halifax. Contact: Dave 456-9353 * we are in the small building on the left of the outdoor courtyard on Lower Water Street. NOTE: LOWER WATER STREET IS NOW ONE-WAY (heading North), so adjust your route accordingly.
Wolfville: Thursdays 7-9 pm: Earth Eats Farm (1229 Deep Hollow Rd, Black River, NS). Contact: Carla 902-542-9410.
Tantallon:  Thursdays 6:15-7pm. (Mariposa Picnic Area, 5229 St Margarets Bay Rd, Tant.): Contact Corine: 497-4660.
Bedford: Thursdays 4:15-6:30pm.  59 Douglass Drive (Basinview Subdivision) Contact: Sandra 469-0719
Dartmouth: Thursdays 4:30-7pm. 34 Russell St. (near the MacDonald Bridge). Contact Brenda 404-4481
North End Halifax: Thursdays 4-5:30. 2705 Fern Lane, Hfx. (Ecology Action Centre) Contact Carla: 429-2202
Lower Prospect: Fridays 9-6. 2017 Lower Prospect Road. Contact Dave: 456-9353.
Tatamagouche: Thursdays 5:45-6:30. Home Hardware Parking lot, Tatamagouche. Contact Janet: 657-0265

If you have an "alternating" subscription, this week is a whole fish week for you so plan accordingly. If you ordered extra fillets, you can pick up your fillets with your regular order.

Happy Fish Day everyone. Thanks for a great season.

-Dave

Sign up for your share here.

Off the Hook Subscription Options:

This fall, we are pleased to offer three types of shares: whole fish (like last year),  mixed shares of whole/filleted fish, and all fillets.  Here’s how they work:

Whole Fish: For the whole fish shares, you receive a weekly allotment of whole, dressed fish.  The fish is usually either haddock, hake, cod, or pollock. Last season, the fish averaged 2–3 lbs each.

We offer two sizes of whole fish shares:

One Fish:                  $90  (6 deliveries of one 2-3 fish)

Two Fish:                  $165 (6 deliveries of two 2-3 lb fish)

Whole/Filleted Fish: This year, we are pleased to offer filleted fish to our subscribers. You will receive whole fish one week, and filleted fish the next. We are working with two processing facilities to fillet our fish while our fishermen wait nearby.  We have chosen processors who will guarantee that our fish is handled with utmost care to ensure top quality and to work within our targeted window of 24 hours from the ocean to you.

As with the whole fish shares, there are two share sizes for whole/filleted fish:

One Fish & Fillets:      $125 (6 alternating deliveries: one 2-3 lb whole fish one week and 2 lbs fillets the next)

Two Fish & Fillets       $225 (6 alternating deliveries: two 2-3 lb whole fish one week and 4 lbs fillets the next)

Filleted Fish: You asked for it. This fall we are pleased to offer an all-fillet subscription for those who would rather not deal with a whole fish. We have developed relationships with processors who will guarantee that our fish is handled with utmost care to ensure top quality and to work within our targeted window of 24 hours from the ocean to you.

As with the other shares, there are two share sizes for the all-filleted fish option

2 lbs of Fillets:      $175 (6 deliveries of 2 lbs fillets each)

4 lbs of Fillets       $325 (6 deliveries of 4 lbs fillets each

How Much Fish Is In Each Share?

The “One Fish” shares are plenty of food for a couple to have at least one meal plus left-overs (fish tacos anyone?) each week. The “Two Fish” share is perfect for families or people who want to share with their friends or have dinner parties that are totally off the hook. 2 lbs of fillets is plenty for a meal for two plus leftovers. 4 lbs of fillets is plenty for a large chowder or a family meal.

Off the Hook's shares are easy to split with neighbours, family and friends. When you sign up, you can enter up to five contacts per subscription. This makes it easy to arrange biweekly pickups, for example, or to sign up as an office or small business. Be sure to check our matchmaker blog post to "hook up" with others looking for share-mates.

What is included in your subscription?

Fish from Off the Hook is bound to be more expensive than any other fish on the market. We can almost guarantee it.  So why get involved? By buying a subscription to Off the Hook, you get:

• Extremely fresh, sustainably caught fish- delivered weekly
• The chance to meet and get to know the fisherman who catch your fish
• Live updates from the fishing boats as they steam back to port with your catch, including alerts about special catches such as halibut and mackerel.
• Access to exclusive specials on items such as mussels & clams from our sustainable seafood partners.
• Filleting workshops, cooking tips, recipes and more
• The opportunity to use the whole fish- for stock, chowder, and ultimately for your compost.
• the opportunity to order extra fillets in advance
  

Pick up Locations:

This year we are pleased to be able to stage our main pick up location at the Brewery Market (1496 Lower Water Street, Halifax) each Thursday from 3-6 pm starting Sept 22. We also have pickup spots in Tantallon, Wolville, Tatamagouche, Bedford, Dartmouth, Lower Prospect, and North End Halifax.

We are looking for subscribers in the Truro area. If you are interested, please get in touch.

Sign up for your share here.

Explore these recipes and tips. Learn to fillet with this great video, courtesy of Port Clyde Fresh Catch.

Shares that are not picked up will be donated for use in hot meals at Hope Cottage.

Because you sign on to share both the bounty and risk of the fishing season, in case of bad weather or bad luck on the water, there may be a week with no delivery. On the other hand, there may be weeks where you get extra fish. In the unlikely event of a missed week of deliveries, every effort will be made to tack a week onto the end of the delivery schedule.