Saving Seafood

Some Washington restaurants serve New England-style seafood over usual Chesapeake blue crabs and Old Bay

August 19, 2015 — Apponaug Harbor is a small secluded part of Rhode Island’s Greenwich Bay, whose waters eventually flow into the mighty Atlantic Ocean.

It was within a tiny restaurant on this tiny harbor that I had one of the most delicious lobster rolls I ever tasted, proving that you cannot escape mouth-watering seafood in New England — the place I call home.

Fortunately for everyone at University of Maryland, it turns out seafood like New England’s can be found elsewhere in the country, like in Washington, where a couple restaurants have earned high marks from customers craving a bite from the Atlantic.

“We’re the most authentic and highest quality New England experience you can get in the District,” said Ben Coniff, vice president at Luke’s Lobster — a popular seafood restaurant in the capital region that serves seafood New England-style.

Luke’s receives its seafood and accompaniments, like sodas and dessert ingredients, through its sister seafood company called Cape Seafood which is based in Saco, Maine.

Read the full story at The Diamondback

 

 

DELAWARE: Crab yield projected to be double last year’s catch

July 8, 2015 — LEIPSIC, Del. — As summer heats up, so does crab season.

Local crabbers are bringing in more blue crabs now than they have all season to this point.

“Overall, this year has been better than last year, but these past few weeks have been way better and I think the rest of the summer looks promising,” said Lingo Voss, a local crabber for more than 40 years.

Lingo and his brother, Larry, crab with a few employees in the Leipsic River starting at daylight during the season, which runs from March to November.

The Vosses usually are done with the day around noon.

“It’s easier to get more done in the morning and it’s also the coolest time of day,” Lingo said. “If you come out in the afternoon, it’s going to be too hot for the crabs and they’re not going to last very long.”

The brothers keep a daily log of how many crabs they bring in. After flipping through a few pages they saw that during the week of July 4th, 2014, the largest catch amounted to only three bushels.

The Vosses said on any given day over the past month or so their boats bring in five to 10 bushels a day.

According to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s projections, about 3 million to 3.5 million pounds of crabs (weight includes the shell) are expected to be harvested in 2015. If the yield meets the projections, it will be almost twice as many crabs as last year, the best year since 2010.

To make projections for each year, DNREC monitors the size and quantity of young crabs between April and October at 26 Delaware locations, a process they’ve followed since 1978.

Read the full story at Delaware State News