Privacy Policy

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Our website address is: https://css.otolithonline.com.

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CSS Membership Purchase Order Agreement

Terms
By purchasing a Community Supported Seafood, CSS, share membership you agree to:

1. Become a member of Otolith LLC’s CSS program accepting your annual seasonal seafood purchased by Otolith LLC on behalf of Community Supported Seafood as compensation for your Membership Purchase Order Agreement for a term of no more than one year,
2. Accept the shared risk of allowing Otolith LLC to contribute a portion of all CSS funds to the upfront costs of any CSS harvester’s limited access fishery permit or quota, gear, transportation, fish storage, fish handling, and/or any cost except fuel prior to your annual CSS distribution,
3. Accept responsibility for keeping your fish frozen after each CSS delivery, and
4.  Indemnify Otolith LLC, Community Supported Seafood or their affiliates of any responsibility to repay your CSS investment in the event of any loss essential to the successful harvest, transport or distribution of the CSS such as the loss of vessel, crew member, gear or loss of fish quality through any means after or during its harvest or purchase rendering it unsuitable for consumption or sale.

Otolith LLC, also known as Otolith Sustainable Seafood, may provide information regarding your harvester including live webcast and online streaming video of your actual CSS harvest throughout the open fishing season. Otolith Sustainable Seafood may provide area of harvest information upon request provided it does not jeopardize the proprietary and local knowledge of the CSS harvester. Otolith Sustainable Seafood will provide online updates and links for information pertaining to fishery management protocol, fishery gear type, thawing, handling and cooking of your highest quality available wild fish. Your CSS wild fish or shellfish will be sourced from low environmental impact sustainable harvesters in Southeast Alaska or Gulf of Alaska, and may be purchased directly from the CSS harvester(s) or processor. Otolith Sustainable Seafood may provide the CSS harvesters’ vessel name in a confidential email to you identified as follows: F/V [fishing/vessel] “Name of Vessel“. Further vessel information may be available online at www.otolithonline.blogspot.com/ and www.otolithonline.com.

Quality Assurance
Community Supported Seafood guarantees your CSS fish or shellfish to be harvested within each of that same year’s annual fishery. Your CSS fish will arrive in average weight 1 pound or less blast-frozen packs providing the highest quality sustainably harvested U. S. fish or shellfish on the market. Your CSS crab will arrive in 2-3 pound packages containing Individually Quick Frozen [IQF] half-crab clusters that have been partially cooked both to stabilize and maintain their quality during shipping and prevent over cooking during the final cooking process. Community Supported Seafood’s premium fish and shellfish once thawed and stored between 34-40 degrees may maintain its quality for up to 3 days and can be cooked and eaten up to 7 days after it has been thawed. Community Supported Seafood’s fish is sushi-grade and may be eaten raw up to 6 hours only after it has been thawed using Otolith’s Quick Thaw© method and provided it has been kept dry and stored between 34-40 degrees using refrigeration to control the temperature of your sushi grade fish. Fish and shellfish thawed under refrigeration for durations in excess of 6 hours or improperly held at temperatures above 40 degrees will not be suitable to consume raw or for use as ceviche, pickling and/or brining. It is the responsibility of each member to learn and use Otolith’s Quick Thaw© method before serving Community Supported Seafood’s fish as sushi or other raw service food. It is recommended that you put your CSS directly into a freezer after it has been picked/up, and cook all frozen crab without thawing.

Notifications and Delivery
All members are to expect CSS distribution to begin during the first two weeks immediately following the arrival of the CSS fish into Philadelphia. The CSS arrival and availability will be announced to each CSS member via email, posted on Community Supported Seafood’s Facebook page, and indicated by the status of your order in your CSS Account History as “On Delivery“.

CSS delivery is available to your home, business, local farm, or local farm market. CSS Members must phone or email all delivery requests. Weekend deliveries must be requested by Thursday at 5pm prior to the delivery date requested. Each CSS provides a specific number of FREE deliveries. You will receive no less than 5 lbs. per delivery; and all delivery expenses up to the agreed number of FREE deliveries are included in your CSS purchase price. Additional deliveries will cost $10 per delivery and are payable upon receipt. CSS can be delivered all at once or 5-7.5 lbs. per delivery [subject to scheduling availability].

Objective
The preferred abundant species sourced through this CSS shall be wild Alaskan seasonal hook and line harvested fish and pot/trap gear harvested shellfish. Community Supported Seafood’s goal is to assist the sustainable commercial harvester and/or processor with upfront costs of participating in specific sustainable limited entry fisheries governed by International Pacific Halibut Commission, Regional North Pacific Management Council and/or the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game and to contribute responsibly toward the costs of effective fishery management while improving access to the best domestic sustainable fish for the benefit of the market served. Community Supported Seafood guarantees that your CSS will not be harvested by trawlers, draggers and will be the result of a low environmental impact harvest.

Limitations
Community Supported Seafood assumes responsibility for the purchase, process, and transportation of your CSS share to your designated delivery location excepting for any unforeseeable loss of the CSS fish as a result of circumstances beyond our control as stated in the Terms [above]. You are guaranteed to receive the specific weight described in each CSS share program purchased with a variation of not greater than [.15 lbs.] more or less of the specified weight. Owing to the founding partners, Murat Aritan and Amanda Bossard, our combined commercial fishing experience of more than 20 years and our direct market sales established in 2001, Community Supported Seafood estimates the CSS Share Program(s) to annually provide up to the total pounds specified on the CSS Product Description for each CSS membership you purchase. Community Supported Seafood and its affiliates reserve the right to purchase from multiple harvesters and/or processors for seasonal harvested fish. Community Supported Seafood reserves the right to take up to 8 months to distribute your CSS fish or shellfish in the event of any delays to the harvest, process, transportation or distribution of your CSS.

Opening and Closing Dates
Community Supported Seafood will sell up to 100 memberships of each CSS Share Program beginning 4 months prior to its expected harvest. Community Supported Seafood will close each CSS share membership program upon its harvest, arrival into Philadelphia or 100% CSS Member participation up to 100 shares sold per CSS program.

Refunds/Cancellation
Community Supported Seafood reserves the right to cancel AND refund your money if the market value of the species defined does not support the CSS Program details or for insufficient CSS funds due to limited member participation. Otolith LLC guarantees the refund of your CSS payment in the event Community Supported Seafood cancels the CSS due to limited participation. In the interest of Otolith LLC, Community Supported Seafood, their Partners and other CSS Share Program Members, with respect to the limited time offer of CSS, requests for refunds will be honored up to one month prior to the “ETA” harvest date and again after at least 6 month s since the date of your CSS Membership Purchase Order Agreement. If you are dissatisfied with the quality of your CSS, Community Supported Seafood’s Manager will review your complaint in which case refunds will be subject to approval. A $30 administrative fee applies to all refund requests. Refunds may take up to three weeks to receive, and all refunds will be issued in the form of a check from Otolith LLC.