Eel of Fortune

“This ancient fish is prized by Prosper’s band, the Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation, which has eaten and used it for materials, medicine, and spiritual offerings for millennia. Less glamorous than lobster or salmon—and for decades, worth far less commercially—the eel has long slipped beneath the radars of many large-scale commercial fishermen in Atlantic Canada. But with skyrocketing global demand for eels, that’s quickly changing.”

 

Karen Pinchin – Hakai Magazine – January 2018

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Catch and Release

“But even in communities where seafood is landed onshore, the full bounty of Atlantic waters—the full range of species and varieties, from exotic to commonplace—never makes it to local tables. Our culinary culture is undermined by an economic system that treats the region as little more than a producer of raw goods for bigger markets, a system in some ways little changed from the colonial era. A new generation of entrepreneurs, driven by growing interest in ethically harvested, locally caught food, should be rising to meet this demand, but they’re few and far between.”

Karen Pinchin – The Deep – October 2017