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Mike Dunbar was standing by his work truck and well-loved boat, looking at the cadet-gray waters of Lewis Bay, about to head out to fill a surprise, and very welcome, order of thousands of oysters. “This is my office,” he said, grinning at the thought and the idea of harvesting as many oysters as he wanted after a year of harvesting next to nothing, except for deliveries destined for food pantries...

Bluefin tuna and striped bass crash through the waves. Seabirds wheel overhead and plunge into the water. Gape-mouthed whales rise from below. Schools of cod and dogfish hide below the surface. While the convergence of such diverse sea life might seem accidental, those in the know thank a small, slender fish called a sand eel for the bonanza...

Alex Hay of Wellfleet Shellfish Company was on screen, shucking meaty surf clams for linguiça-infused stuffies, when an audience member following along at home raised a virtual hand. Jenn Allard of Mainsail Events and Marketing, who had pulled together the Meet the Fleet Zoom for the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, encouraged the question as one camera filmed Hay’s cutting board and the other focused on his face...

Fred Bennett remembers the moment well and although he doesn’t regret it, he does say he alienated some people. And he destroyed a flower pot. It was the mid-1990s, in a conference center in Hyannis, at one of many state and federal hearings centered on reducing fishing effort. Big cuts were on the table and hook fishermen like Bennett didn’t want to be lumped in with bigger dragger boats using so-called “rock hopper gear...

Our headquarters, the Captain Nathan Harding House on Main Street, has been much quieter than we would like because of COVID restrictions. We miss being there, meeting people there, having events there and celebrating a historic building the community came together to restore. So we thought we would take the opportunity, it being our 30th anniversary as well, to virtually visit and tell the story of the house that became our third office, and forever home, in 2010...

So many of us put in so much hard work to enact protections for herring in our waters, understanding that these small forage fish are crucial to a healthy ecosystem but have been nearly wiped out by one style of fishery working in devastating, massive ways. We won that fight, and now the federal government has in place thoughtful, constructive measures designed to bring herring back both offshore and to our rivers and streams that should teem at this very moment of every year...

Read the March issue of Small Boats. Big Ideas! Read about third generation fisherman Zach Bennett, oyster bars, the perils of ocean acidification, Nick Nickerson's unique way of scalloping, a photo gallery primer on fishing gear and more!

Zach Bennett’s grandfather and father were well-known, successful captains, but he never went fishing with them. “That would have been nice,” Bennett said, his voice part slow drawl, part Cape Cod, unfailingly polite. Bennett, 28, was sitting in his truck at Saquatucket Harbor, his black dog Otis beside him. He was looking at his new boat, having just gotten back from a trip and in a few hours he’d be headed out scalloping again...

Ocean acidification has often been called climate change’s evil twin, and both global perils are so pervasive it can be hard to put them in perspective. Seth Garfield found a way. Many growers and towns on the Cape, and beyond, get the shellfish seed that drives their businesses and anchors their recreational harvest from A.R.C. Hatchery in Dennis, noted Garfield, president of the Massachusetts Aquaculture Association...

At 6’4”, Nick Nickerson has to duck when he opens the door to the studio of his Chatham Coastal Creations business, tucked by the Little League fields behind the Harwich Cultural Center. Nickerson smiles as he introduces himself and explains he was running a bit late because he’d just got off the phone with a woman from Hopkinton; she wanted one of those scallop shell mirrors she had seen at a friend’s house in New Seabury, Mashpee...

Did you know that in the 1800s oyster bars in New York City were located in the basements of buildings? They were called oyster cellars, refectories (a room for communal eating) or dives (presumably for diving down the stairs). These cellars were distinguished by the red lanterns or balloons hung above the cellar stairs. The only women welcome in these establishments were prostitutes...

Fishermen are always at it, as a great winter photo spread in last month’s issue proves, but the rhythms of work and weather are always in play as well. So now comes a recurring moment that in many ways, year in and year out, is pivotal. This year that’s true more than ever, given all that’s happened and hasn’t happened since last March...