Trash Fish Banquet (1996)
©1996, 2013 by Dallas Denny
Source: This poem was published in the Fantasia Fair Gazette, most likely in 1997.
Designed as an educational tool, the banquet taught Cape Cod fisherman the “trash” fish they had been throwing away were good to eat and had a market. Diners were treated to then under-appreciated species such as skate, squid, whiting, hake and grouper.
This was important because local cod and mackerel populations had been overfished and catches were down.
The fishermen took heed and began catching the new species. They were so successful that within 15 years the former trash fish populations were in crisis.
And so in 1996 the banquet featured the new trash fish– species that were still being discarded. I remember one menu item was sea urchin eggs. The menu sounded thoroughly unappetizing.
I was saddened because clearly the banquet was only delaying the inevitable. In the meantime– sea urchin eggs?
Trash Fish Banquet
By Dallas Denny
We’ve come to celebrate the rape
Of all the fishes of the Cape
And mourn for fishes we’ve not caught
And for the dollars that were lost
And now the codfish all are gone
And still the fishermen fish on
And species once considered trash
Are looked upon as source of cash
So once a year there is a feast
And things not fit for men nor beast
Are cooked and all the natives come
And act as if it were not chum
And on our plates we find such things
As mystery fish and urchin eggs
And try to reassure ourselves
That they are good and that they’ll sell
But what poor godforsaken spawn
When these our trash fish too are gone
Will we serve up from ocean deep
But is not something fit to eat