Lobsters vs. Cod: Fish Tales from the Fish House Continues

This article was submitted by Anne Driscoll

The Swampscott Yacht Club is hosting its next Fish Tales from the Fish House lecture entitled “Lobsters vs. Cod” by Jon Grabowski, a professor and researcher from the Marine Science Center of Northeastern University in Nahant. Grabowski will give a public talk on January 23 at 7 p.m. at the Fish House in Swampscott about two of the most treasured seafood species of coastal Massachusetts and Maine and their interactions with each other.

This is the fifth community lecture since Fish Tales from the Fish House lecture series was launched on May 2 with its inaugural talk and video given on May 2 who has been lobstering from Swampscott for 40 years. The Lobsters vs. Cod talk and video will be held at the Fish House at 425 Humphrey St., Swampscott on Wednesday, Jan. 23. The event is free and open to the public but reservations are requested. A cash bar will also be available. For more information and to make your reservation, call 781.962.5587.

“We live so close to the sea, that many people might be tempted to take the cod or lobster sitting on their plate for granted. I think there are many stories about the challenges of getting that seafood from sea to table and I think Jonathan is the one to tell them,” said Steve Speranza, Swampscott Yacht Club vice commodore.

The Swampscott Yacht Club is housed at the Fish House, which was built in 1896, is on the National Historic Register of Historic Places and is the only municipal fish house on the East Coast. The lecture series was conceived of, in part, to share the richness of community life and the history of coastal Swampscott, as well as introduce community members to the treasured Fish House. For example, few know that the lobster pot was invented in 1808 by Ebenezer Thorndike, a Swampscott lobsterman. Other lectures have included a plein air beach painting program at Fisherman’s Beach and a talk on turning found seaglass and pottery into jewelry and art. 

The Swampscott Yacht Club is a volunteer club founded in 1933 for the purpose of promoting yachting and sailboat racing. Located on the second floor of the Fish House, there are about 200 members, about half of whom are boaters, enjoying fishing, sailing, power boating, kayaking or rowing. Membership costs as little as $340 per year.