Saving Seafood

Haddock broadline sales up, prices likely to rise

January 23, 2019 — Haddock, a species that for decades has largely been popular in New England and the Middle Atlantic, is starting to proliferate down the U.S. East Coast, according to the latest data.

Broadline sales of haddock increased in nearly every U.S. market between 2016 and 2018. At the low end, sales in the “East North Central” area stayed relatively flat, while sales in the West South Central region of the U.S. (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana) increased by 92 percent.

Broadline sales everywhere else increased too: Middle Atlantic by seven percent, South Atlantic by 21 percent, Mountain-Pacific by 44 percent, West North Central by 49 percent, and East South Central by 48 percent.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

USDA announces USD 20 million catfish purchase

September 20, 2018 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it will be purchasing nearly USD 20 million (EUR 17 million) in catfish products as part of its Section 32 “Bonus Buys” authority.

The USDA announced its intention to use its authority for catfish purchases on 9 February, is intended to “Encourage the continued domestic consumption of these products by diverting them from the normal channels of trade and commerce,” according to a release by the USDA. All told, the department is purchasing just over four million pounds of catfish from various U.S. producers.

The decision was applauded by officials in states with catfish aquaculture operations in place.

“Aquaculture and catfish production is an important segment of Arkansas agriculture,” said Arkansas Agriculture Secretary Wes Ward, in a letter of support sent to the USDA. “We appreciate Secretary Perdue’s support of this important industry and his understanding of the impact that this industry and its producers have on our state’s rural areas. This approval not only helps the industry but also helps to make sure that a healthy protein is available for food nutrition assistance programs.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fresh or frozen? Arkansas has to rely on trucks and planes for faster water-to-table seafood

July 30, 2018 — If you live on a coastline, fresh seafood means a couple of hours — or less — from sea to table to mouth.

Earlier that day, that fish was alive. Somebody caught it and took it to a dock, from whence somebody quickly delivered it to a restaurant or the market, where you ordered or bought it.

In Arkansas, where even the southern tier of counties is several hundred miles from salt water, seafood is truly “fresh” only if somebody just fished it from a river, lake or stream. In a few rare instances, a cook may have pulled it, live, from a restaurant tank. (For example, live lobsters.)

In the current culinary context, however, “fresh” seafood mostly means is that it isn’t frozen. In most cases, it’s packed on ice — well, not necessarily ice, but technological ice: gel pacs or dry ice that keep it at a constant temperature — at the dock or in a warehouse so it stays chilled but doesn’t freeze.

It ships by airplane to a seafood distributor or auction house in an intermediate city such as Memphis or Dallas. And then it’s trucked to restaurant kitchens and markets around the state, the biggest restaurant markets being Little Rock, Fayetteville and Bentonville.

By that time, it has been, perhaps, en route anywhere from 18 to 36 hours. It still qualifies as “fresh” because it hasn’t been “frozen.” And streamlined shipping methods have made that a pretty quick turnaround, according to a pair of Little Rock restaurateurs who run multiple establishments that serve seafood and a local scion of a New England family that supplies it.

‘SMELL THE OCEAN’

“When we do a special at Oceans at Arthur’s, say, halibut from Alaska, it was caught Monday and Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, it’s here,” says Manjeev De Mel, general manager at the three Little Rock restaurants owned and operated by Jerry Barakat — Arthur’s Prime Steakhouse; its west Little Rock sibling, Oceans at Arthur’s; and Hillcrest’s Kemuri sushi, seafood, robata.

Read the full story at the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette

 

Selling ‘Gloucester Fresh’ to middle America

September 6, 2016 — More than 1,500 miles separates Gloucester from Bentonville, Arkansas. But if Barry Furuseth has his way, he’ll connect the two geographical dots with an unceasing supply of fresh seafood from America’s oldest seaport.

Furuseth, the owner of Blu Fresh Fish Marketplace in Bentonville, has become one of the staunchest acolytes of fresh Gloucester seafood and the city’s rich fishing heritage, incorporating both onto his restaurant menu and into the cases of his seafood market.

“I want to showcase the American fishermen and I want showcase ‘Gloucester Fresh’,” Furuseth said Friday afternoon, invoking the name of the city’s overarching seafood marketing brand. “I want to show people that this is where their seafood is coming from, from these cold, clear, fresh waters. And to do that, we will market and sell ‘Gloucester Fresh’ seafood.”

The Minnesota native, now transplanted to the Arkansas city that boasts the headquarters of giants Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, was standing in the stern of lobsterman Mark Ring’s FV Stanley Thomas as it made its way across Gloucester’s Inner Harbor to Capt. Joe & Sons Inc. in East Gloucester, passing some of the early arrivals for the weekend’s Gloucester Schooner Festival along the way.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times