When the explorer Bartholomew Gosnold stumbled upon the Cape of St. James in 1602, he was so utterly enchanted by the abundance of the fish there that he renamed it Cape Cod. In no time at all, New England began cementing its status as a leader within the global fish trade. Four centuries later, Boston still owns its reputation as a seafood town. There’s something about the chilly, high-salinity North Atlantic waters that just produces fish of extraordinary quality.
Any local would admit that no visit here is complete without getting a lobster roll, chowder, or, at the very least, some fried clams. But true insiders will point out that seafood, much like produce, also has its seasons. Certain fish are more readily available—and in some instances, taste better—at certain times of year.
“Don’t get me wrong, lobster rolls and fried clams pay the rent,” said chef Jeremy Sewall, owner of the seafood-focused restaurant Row34, which has locations in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood, Cambridge, and now the nearby suburbs of Burlington, Massachusetts, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. “But what people don’t always understand is that, just like a farmstand in the summer when you expect to see corn and tomatoes, with seafood, there are certain times of year when you’re more focused on certain things.”
The first factor contributing to seafood’s seasonality is, surprisingly, human. Winter is prime season for shellfish and ground fish, in part because those species don’t require fishermen to venture too far from shore in New England’s unpredictable winter weather. In the warmer, more pleasant months, you’ll see fishermen venture many miles offshore, sometimes even overnight; in the colder months, they tend to go out-and-back in a single day. For that reason, it’s more common to see hake, monkfish, flounder, haddock, and shellfish in winter, whereas fish found further offshore (tuna, black bass, tilefish, striped bass) are more available in the summer months.
“People don’t go to the grocery store and think about the seasonality of pork, chicken, or steak. When you walk up to a seafood counter, it’s different. Depending on the time of year, the cod might be from here, or it might be from Iceland,” said Sewall.
The second factor contributing to seasonality is that those extra-cold winter waters have an “invigorating effect” on the catch, according to local fisherman Larry Trowbridge, owner of Snappy Lobster in Scituate, Massachusetts. Many fish from New England tend to spawn in the winter, so this time of year is when they’re at their most, ahem, invigorated. “The catch also doesn’t need to be iced down like it does during the summer,” said Trowbridge—meaning that the cold weather causes less breakdown in the fish as it makes its way from the dock to your plate.
