My favorite fishmonger, Courthouse Fish Market in East Cambridge – one of Cambridge’s longest operating businesses, since 1912 - closed this month. It is a family business and everyone in the family who worked there is approaching retirement age; they put it up for sale over a year ago, and there were no takers. I asked the two brothers I’ve been buying from most every week for decades who else they recommended in the business. There’s no one left doing what we do, said Joe. No one wants to do this work any more, said Eddy - possibly including himself in the statement. They weren’t maudlin; they were smiling, if a bit ruefully. They’ve earned their retirement.
“Are we really going to have to buy our fish from Amazon,” Naomi sighed, when I told her the news. The Amazon-owned chainstore Whole Foods is where most of our immediate neighbors pick up fish, even though we live by the ocean in a region famous for …
