The Cheapest Fish on Chatham's Board Started the Co-op

CHATHAM · FROM THE BOATS

The co-op's board this week, what its prices mean, and the fish it was built around.

3 min read · A Celebrate Lower Cape spotlight

$5.50. That was the lowest price on the Chatham Harvesters online shop this week, next to dogfish fillets.

Further up the board: mackerel fillets from $6.50, skate wings from $8.50, monkfish medallions from $9.50, black sea bass fillets from $14.50, tautog from $17.50, sea scallops from $20. Winter flounder was $13, stuffed quahogs $7 each, monkfish burgers $10 for two. Bluefish was the only thing marked out of stock.

One caution before you do math. These are "from" prices, not a single price per pound. Some product pages offer vacuum-sealed half-pound and one-pound packs, and your total depends on what you pick. Still, the cheapest fish on the board is the one this whole operation was built around, and that's worth a minute.

Thousands of pounds over the side

Dogfish are small sharks, and they land at the Chatham Fish Pier in quantity. They rarely make it onto a local plate. Edible Cape Cod described a pier where boats brought in scup, skate and dogfish you'd never see on a Cape menu.

Doug Feeney, one of the fishermen behind the co-op, told the magazine he once threw thousands of pounds of fish overboard because his boat had gone over its catch share. "It made me sick to my stomach," he said.

The co-op was the answer: sell what the boats catch directly to the people who live here, at a price the fishermen set.

Three founders or six, depending on who's telling it

The effort dates to 2016, and the accounts name different people. Edible Cape Cod credits Doug Feeney, Luther Bates and David Gelfman as originators. The Chronicle describes Brett Tolley, now general manager, as a co-founder along with five other fishermen and their families.

The two lists don't line up, and we couldn't settle it. In a later interview, Tolley separated the earlier effort from a cooperative structure formed in 2020, and called 2022 the first year of direct community fish sales.

From 250 members to 1,100, and then some

The fish share grew fast. The Chronicle reported growth from 250 members in the first year to 1,100 by the end of 2025. The co-op's membership page now advertises a community of more than 1,500.

The fall share runs October through December. The minimum is $100, and the whole amount becomes credit for fish. Members pick a pickup spot when they order, and the co-op lists more towns beyond our four. If you're not a member, check how the shop handles your order before you plan dinner around it.

No cod, on purpose

The board has gaps by design. Cod, under heavy fishing pressure off the Cape, is off-limits for the co-op, Tolley explained in the same interview. What you get instead is what's plentiful, which is why dogfish, skate and mackerel sit at the cheap end.

The co-op's whole pitch fits in one of Tolley's sentences, and it's the same thing the $5.50 is saying.

"It really started with this fish we catch called dogfish."

Send it to: the friend who says you can't buy local fish on the Cape.