It was time for a change.
— Douglas Feeney, Captain F / V Noah, President Chatham Harvesters
Cape Cod Fish Comes Direct
Get fresh fish here! A new cooperative model is changing the way Cape Cod fish reaches the market - and changing the future of the fishing businesses themselves.
Click on image to watch short news feature about the Chatham Harvesters co-op.
10 September 2026 – CHATHAM, MA – Chatham Harvesters is the only fishing producer owned co-op in Massachusetts – and it wants to bring a counterbalance to the current seafood industry model of large centralized buyers and processors, focusing instead on a model where local fish gets eaten locally.
What is Chatham Harvesters?
Brett Tolley, co-founder and general manager of Chatham Harvesters says local fish have a bright – and tasty – future.
“We really honed in on doing right by our Cape Cod community, feeding people the best fish that we got,” he said.
Chatham Harvesters is the only fishing producer coop in the state – and a company that suggests a new path for sustainable fishing fleets, fishing communities, consumers, and the ocean.
If it seems like a big mission, it is.
What does the cooperative do?
The group believes that its cooperative business model brings sustainable income to fishermen, produces the highest quality of fish delivered at a peak of freshness to consumers, supports the local community and fishing culture, and helps keep the practice of fishing sustainable for the oceans.
Tolley is the fourth generation in Cape Cod commercial fishing family – and as he grew up, his father encouraged him to look beyond the waters off Cape Cod for his future.
How did the cooperative happen?
Fishing seemed to be shrinking into a commodity-based bottom-end business. Tolley heeded his dad’s advice – spending 15 years traveling across the country working on fishing advocacy and systems issues.
“And then some of my friends and family here in Chatham helped me to realize that instead of helping others build this alterative vision of a better seafood system, why don’t we do it here?” he said.
In short order, a group of group of like-minded Cape Cod fisherman connected, including Douglas Feeney, who is Captain of the F/ V Noah, and co-founder and president of Chatham Harvesters
Why did fishermen want to cooperative?
Feeney said that after 30 years of commercial fishing he was fed up with a supply chain with unpredictable pricing, one that almost encouraged people to forget about quality of catch and focus only on quickest volume.
“It was bring in high volume, it didn’t matter about the condition,” he said. “It was time for a change.”
Coming together with Brett and other members brought more control over the catch, he explained.
“It gave us a sense of pride again as fishermen.
What is the supply chain like?
The supply chain in seafood has become highly centralized. Under this centralized and consolidated structure, it drives down prices for fishermen, creates a product that reaches market long after it has been caught, devalues the diversity of local fish, and encourages volume over ecosystem sustainability.
It also creates odd market dynamics. Locally caught fish like dogfish and black sea bass may travel thousands of miles away to consumers, while local markets on Cape Cod actually import fish, like the fast-disappearing cod, thousands of miles from other places.
Most people are unaware that the seafood distribution system create a multi-day process in which fresh catch from Cape waters travels bidding, shipping and multiple handling process before it ends up in front of consumers. The result? The “fresh” fish sometimes isn’t.
What is an alternative model?
Chatham Harvesters wants to create a model to bring a counterbalance to the current seafood industry’s large centralized buyers and processors. It sees value grow all around by focusing on a model where local fish gets eaten locally. And with fish, time truly is of the essence.
“Especially when it comes off of the boat, time is of the essence – and we’re able to cut days off it,” says Feeney.
How does the co-op bring fresher fish to market?
Consumers say they don’t “like” fish or its “fishy smell” – but what they are actually reacting to is an aging product, according to Chatham Harvesters. Fresh fish don’t smell at all.
By working closely with fishermen and processing in Chatham, the cooperative takes 3 days off the cycle. Within hours, fish go from swimming in the water to either flash frozen or deep cold ready for delivery or pick up by consumers, restaurants, and groceries.
How does it help the Cape Cod economy?
Twenty five fishing families currently patriciate in the co-op. While profit is – of course – essential, the values of fishing and community shape business decisions, said Tolley, bringing more than a singular bottom line to the industry.
Plus, this approach helps keep local dollars on Cape Cod.
According to Tolley, the cooperative pays on average a 20% higher fair price to the boat than they would otherwise be getting – because that price is based on quality and value, not merely on volume and bidding.
“Last year that translates into $100,000 that stayed in the pockets of our fishing families that otherwise would have gone far far away to the supply chain that is exporting our fish,” he said.
What adds value to fish?
The co-op also owns and runs a Chatham based processing facility – which brings another key part of the strategy for ensuring top quality and encouraging seafood consumption.
The kitchen helps it offer fish in ways that can be more accessible to consumers. It not only fillets and flash freezes, but it also smokes bluefish, mackerel, and other local species, creates ready-to cook products like monkfish burgers, and packages trimmed fish pieces into fish taco ready offerings.
How widespread is this movement?
The Cape is not alone in working to reshape the food chain. From meat to veggies, eat local forces have been reshaping how we think about food. For seafood in specific, Localcatch.org brings together people across the country sharing best practices to bring food back home again.
“We’re plugged in and sharing best practices as we go,” said Tolley. “So for us it feels like we are in exciting moment where we are solving a very important problem: how do I know where my fish came from and have it at the highest quality it can be.”
Will this change the future of fishing on Cape Cod?
And together this all brings hope for the future and the next generation of Cape Cod fishermen.
“My son who is 13 year old, Noah, said he wanted to be fishermen to me five years ago. and I said Absolutely Not,” said Feeney.
“But with the creation of Chatham Harvesters and Noah being part of it and helping us out, I can see the pride in his eye and he really enjoys it … and I can see there actually being a future in this.”
