When we squint real hard, we see moments in the woods. Like the day we knew we had lost all of our customers due to COVID-related shut-downs; the ensuing sleepless nights, wondering whether we would survive our first year in business. Conversations with our dear chef friends who were similarly stricken, and with our distributor […]
Oh! The symphony! A feast for the ears that is so good for the soul. It is music that stirs the body from the inside out, exuding euphoria and sometimes despair. It must be the most popular music on earth. Yet just 3% of the population likes classical music. That is a problem for an […]
We’re two weeks in to offering our fish to the public, and the response has been terrific. We’re so grateful to everyone who has come out to purchase our product. The support is allowing us to continue to buy from the boats and keep our staff paid. Meanwhile, at-home cooks are experimenting with new recipes, […]
Everyone is feeling the effects of coronavirus. We’re seeing many of our restaurant customers making the crushing decision to temporarily close their doors, while the ones that remain open struggle in the absence of diners. For us, this has had an impact on the demand for our fish, which goes either directly to chefs or […]
No, it is not ok to call Acadian redfish “baby snapper,” or Atlantic pollock “saithe.” Atlantic cod is not “orange roughy.” We could go on with examples of mislabeling in the seafood industry, but we don’t have to. Plenty has been written and reported on the practice, which is rampant. Not only is mislabeling illegal, […]
It’s January in Maine, so of course it’s frosty, snowy, blustery…Every kind of “y” that makes us turn our collars up and tuck our heads as we struggle to avoid the chill. But, as tempting as it is to complain about winter, we’re more interested in talking about… Fish Collars!!! This week our very own […]
We’ve been busy! Everyone’s busy. You ask an old friend or acquaintance, “How have you been?” and the response is most often “Busy! So busy!” Especially at this time of year, we’re all running around working, shopping, preparing, getting ready… For many in the restaurant business, the holidays are a time of particular mayhem. Events, […]
We are the music makers,And we are the dreamers of dreams,Wandering by lone sea-breakers,And sitting by desolate streams;—World-losers and world-forsakers,On whom the pale moon gleams:Yet we are the movers and shakersOf the world for ever, it seems. Ode, by Arthur O’Shaughnessy Well, that’s us! Those of us working at Gulf of Maine Sashimi gotta be […]
Fun Fact: When we eat meat and seafood, it means an animal died. Ok, so we’re clearly stating the obvious here. But here’s an actual fun fact: The taste, texture, and shelf life of the meat depends on how the animal died. The fish we sell are special because they are killed with purpose, […]
Jostling rhythmically in a two square-foot bunk that feels more like a coffin, I attempt to rest. The smell of diesel and dampness fills my nostrils, while the engine noise drowns all other sounds. Sleep comes and goes until the alarm sounds from above…It’s time to head to deck. The fish are coming aboard. It’s […]
Love: An intense feeling of deep affection. A great interest and pleasure in something. There’s a lot of love around here. Love for the people we work with, love for the ocean, and most certainly…love of fish. Local Atlantic mackerel is one that really tugs at our heartstrings. It’s beautiful, delicious, and healthful; and we […]
The ubiquitous haddock! Fried, baked, stuffed, grilled…You really can’t go wrong with haddock. And, it’s everywhere, in every store and on nearly every menu. From a fisheries perspective, haddock and New England seafood are virtually synonymous. So, what’s the problem with haddock? The Atlantic haddock we see locally is often not locally harvested. Massive volumes […]
So, yesterday we packed fish in the dark. Holding flashlights in one hand while picking and packing fish with the other. It was our first power outage. In addition to no lights, we had no heat, wifi, or means to print invoices. It was an experience! And, it’s just an example of one of the […]
It’s the thing we do most around here: We clean. We have check lists, logs, standard operating procedures, and inspections…all focused on cleaning. We have certain brushes for washing walls, others for the floors, different tools for tables, and special scrubbies for totes. We rinse, we cleanse, we scrub, we rinse, we sanitize, we store. […]
It is difficult to describe just how much we appreciate the fishermen who bring us fish each week. It’s not just that they’re up all night doing back-breaking labor in one of the most dangerous work environments in the country. It’s also that they go out of their way to bring us fish in exchange […]
We will never aspire to sell cheap fish. And for good reason. There is a lot of cheap fish on the market, and it comes at a big cost. We’ve seen decreasing prices to the boats in our region hurting commercial fishing businesses, and well-managed fish stocks remain under-harvested because prices are too low to […]
We get pretty excited about fish around here. And, we’re especially thrilled when we learn new ways of using the whole fish…more flavor, less fish waste. But getting excited about fish guts takes it to a whole new level. Specifically, this week we’re talking about squid guts. We sell two kinds of squid: loligo and […]
Commercial fishermen talk a lot. There may be exceptions, but on the whole, they’re downright gabby. And, their favorite thing to talk about is how there are too many stupid, unfair, and downright ineffective fishing regulations. In the category of unfair, there is a tragic history in the allocation of groundfish (e.g., cod, haddock, flounders, […]
You’d think that when we put “Sashimi” in our name, we would know what it means. Well, we don’t. Not entirely. “Sashimi-grade” is often used by seafood companies as an indicator of quality and freshness, which is definitely what we’re all about. In addition to indicating quality, our name pays homage to Japanese fish handling […]
Fish are beautiful. We’re captivated by them every day. We could gaze into their eyes for hours, studying the complexity, the color, the mystery of all they’ve seen in the ocean’s depths. Their scales shimmer in glorious colors and patterns that only nature could create. To share this beauty with the world, we worked with […]
Our customers can be all over the board when it comes to their preferences. Some want squid tube length over 8 inches, while others prefer them to be around 5 or 6 inches long. For the buyer who filets flounder, they are going to want the bigger ones, while the chef who is doing a […]
There are a lot of fish companies out there. Like, thousands. And they successfully move mind-boggling amounts of seafood around the world every day. So why (oh why) did we start a new one? Put simply, we saw major untapped opportunity with our region’s fish. Compared with fisheries and farms around the world, the Gulf […]
Putting out a product, particularly with a promise of superior quality, comes with a lot of performance anxiety. There’s the omnipresent fear that we’ll get the call, text, or email that says our stuff isn’t special, it’s too expensive, or it flopped with subsequent customers. We still want to hear it. We have to hear […]
People think fish stink. They don’t. Well, they do if you mistreat them, leave them in the sun, or don’t clean them properly (bananas stink if you leave them in your backpack for a week, so we’ve heard). But our fish don’t stink. They smell like the ocean. You can run your (preferably gloved) hand […]
We heard through the grapevine that we have no idea what we’re doing. In fairness, this was said by a very experienced seafood veteran who didn’t realize we were listening. Man! To know what he knows and to have seen what he has seen would be such a gift to our business. Because, truth is, […]
Picture this: We’re waiting expectantly at home base to hear from Brendan, who’s been on a boat for the previous 12 hours, what exciting load of fish he’ll be bringing our way. We are ready to weigh, sort, sell, and show off the brilliant array Mother Ocean provided this trip. The text comes through. They […]
