DOUG FEENEY
F/V Noah
After working on other fishing boats for years, in 2013 Doug purchased a 32 ft. boat with a reliable hull, and as an experienced boat builder, rebuilt it from scratch and named it after his son, Noah. Designing it to his specifications, he intended to use it to fish in what was becoming a thriving local fishery - dogfish. Along the way, Doug has become a local spokesperson for the dogfish fishery, a fishery that has been so well managed there is now an overabundance. In 2014 local fishermen in Chatham alone landed 7 million pounds of dogfish - three quarters of what was landed in the entire state of Massachusetts. Right now the majority of what is caught is sold overseas, and Doug is hoping to change that with the CHC.
Doug started fishing in Chatham over 25 years ago. The name of the game back then was high volume and low value. He was told by the fish buyers to catch as much groundfish (especially cod) as possible so they could ship around the world. That approach led to low prices back to the boat, a tremendous pressure on the fish stocks, and ultimately a disconnect between us and who was actually eating our fish.
