fishwife / ˈfɪʃˌwaɪf /
1. a coarse-mannered woman who is prone to shouting.
2. archaic a woman who sells fish.
Who is the Fishwife?
The District Fishwife is Northeast DC's first sustainable seafood market, opening at Union Market in NE DC at the end of January 2014. We will offer fresh and sustainably caught and raised seafood and prepared seafood for take-away, notably our own take on the classic Fish and Chips. Fiona Lewis is The Fishwife, and will be running the day-to-day operations of the shop. She brings a passion for seafood and the health of the world's oceans, and a desire to educate customers to make more sustainable and healthy choices when they bring home seafood.
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Rosie the Fishwife T-shirt design.
Fiona grew up in Melbourne, Australia near the ocean. She spent her childhood fishing with her grandfather in Port Phillip Bay and watching her Dad breed and release endangered fish to rebuild local populations. Fiona studied marine biology during university and quickly understood the extent to which the world's oceans were being stressed by over-fishing, pollution, and illegal fishing practices. She has 25 years of international experience in hospitality, retail sales, and education, and has worked in the hospitality industry since she was 18. She's been searching for the chance to bring together her two passions in life, and this shop is the culmination of that dream.
We're about 80 percent complete with our construction and are pushing hard to be open later this month, but we need some help to get us through the last 20 percent.
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Update Jan 31st. Cooking equipment is IN! Doesn't it look pretty?
We Need Your Help
We've put everything we've got into this shop and we're asking for your help now to get us to the finish line. Most of the equipment--cold room, display case, kitchen appliances, hood, etc.--is already purchased, and the build-out is almost complete, but we still need to have our equipment installed, put the finishing touches on the shop, and have enough operating capitol to get this happening.
We are also committed to offering the best quality sustainable seafood available from Day One.In order to make sure we have the best fish we can find, we've brought on a local seafood expert as our fish buyer, Vernon Lingonfelter. Vernon knows good fish when he sees it, and we need to make sure he can pay for it on the spot.
So this is where you come in. We need about $20,000 to pay for these finishing touches and for working capital so Vernon can buy that top-quality sustainable fish when he sees it.
We've put together some fun perks to thank our funders, including shout-outs, magnets, beanies and caps, t-shirts, lunch for two, a one-on-one fish cutting class with Vernon, and a Feast of the Seven Fishes.
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The fishwife definition t-shirt
The Impact
By helping us reach our fundraising goal, you will be contributing to the success of a local small business that will have a global impact. The health of our oceans is of critical concern, and promoting sustainable seafood is one of the best ways to raise awareness and bring about change "from trawler to table". By offering a product that is both healthy and sustainable, we hope to do our small part to change consumer habits and perspectives on sustainable seafood.
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Vernon checking out some farmed Tilapia
Other Ways You Can Help
We know times have been tough for the last few years and understand if you can't contribute. But that doesn't mean you can’t help. We'd love your help in spreading the word about our campaign and our shop. Please share our video and Indiegogo page on Facebook, Twitter, and anywhere else you think might be an effective way to spread the word. Indiegogo even makes it easy for you to use the share tools here.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading, and we hope to see you soon!