Eating with the Ecosystem is a small nonprofit with a unique mission: to promote a place-based approach to sustaining New England's wild seafood.

 By fusing together the ecological knowledge of marine scientists and commercial fishermen, the creativity of the region’s most innovative chefs, the know-how of seafood businesses, and the enthusiasm of local seafood lovers, we advance a New England seafood system that supports the region’s marine ecosystems and the people who depend on them.

Our work is tethered to Five Anchors.

Click on the buttons below to learn about each ecosystem-based principle

Our programming includes a combination of educational events, citizen science research, supply chain facilitation, and public awareness-raising through print, web, and signage.

We overcome the limits of our small size by engaging in extensive collaborations, working with members of all parts of the local seafood supply chain and bridging the gap between ecosystem scientists and food systems thinkers to integrate a place-based approach to sustaining wild seafood into New England food system planning.

Click on the buttons below to learn how we work with each grouP

What’s new

new! collaborative project to build climate-resilient seafood supply chains

While species shifts are going to impact the future of fisheries in New England from boat to plate, many businesses are in the dark about how to adapt. Eating with the Ecosystem has plans to change that.

Throughout 2024, EWTE, in collaboration with NE seafood businesses, policy makers, and other supporting organizations, will create a roadmap to taking necessary action on climate-ready seafood. Our focus is on barriers and opportunities for ‘climate winners’- species who either buffer the impacts of climate change (think seaweed and bivalves!) or are expected to expand their range or abundance in New England and throughout the U.S. The plan will take shape across several collaborative sessions.

Our first event is a webinar with the Local Catch Network (January 23rd at 1 pm EST) where we will present conclusions from our research and hear from other businesses on their adaptive strategies and barriers to accessing new, sustainable species. You won’t want to miss the opportunity to learn and shape our roadmap! Sign up for the event below.

The UNITED Table – Shell Shock: Conversations on Crustacean Sustainability in New England

Please join us on September 12th at 7:00 at the UNITED Table for the next event in our series with Eating With the Ecosystem and the United Theater as we host a panel and tasting event showcasing our local Crustaceans. From Blue Crabs and Stonington Red Shrimp, to the now infrequent in our waters, elegant Lobster, to the invasives taking over like the ever present Green Crab we will talk and learn about these prehistoric, delicious “bugs.” 

With every UNITED Table we work to provide the science, market, cooking and catching of our local seafood. As always we’ll have a taste of some of these delicacies and talk about how we can better serve our ecosystem, economy and health with local seafood. 

The UNITED Table series is a new culinary entertainment series presented by The United Theatre to celebrate the food we eat and the creative, hardworking people who take the care and thought in preparing and presenting that food, preserving its history, and filling our lives with the tastes, smells, and experiences that bring people together. Through conversations, tastings, book talks, food fests, and screenings from the culinary cineverse, The UNITED Table invites you to pull up a chair. Bon appétit!

Eating with the Ecosystem is a Rhode Island Non-profit focused on a place based approach to seafood in New England where we have great opportunities to support our local economy, our environment and our health through the sustainable harvest of fish. www.eatingwiththecosystem.org

10th Annual Community Seafood Dinner

Join us on Saturday November 9th, 2024 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the South Kingstown Elks Lodge in Wakefield, RI, for our 10th Annual Community Seafood Dinner!

We look forward to getting together and sharing our annual efforts with you over a delicious local seafood feast!

The Annual Community Seafood Dinner is a great opportunity to support Eating with the Ecosystem, a New England based non-profit, while enjoying a medley of local seafood with fellow seafood lovers, fishermen, and other members of our community! Spearheaded by one of Eating with the Ecosystem's founding board members and lifelong Pt. Judith Fisherman, Rodman Sykes, each dinner acts as a fundraiser for Eating with the Ecosystem. We welcome attendees for a multi-course meal that relies on a broad network of volunteers and donor fishermen to catch and prepare seasonal local fish and shellfish - focusing specifically on less well-known and underutilized species.

Celebrate our local seasonal seafood bounty! Bring some friends, and make some new ones! Proceeds from the event benefit Eating with the Ecosystem's ongoing work towards a place-based approach to sustaining New England's wild seafood!