Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford fisheries hopeful as restaurants adapt to COVID-19 crisis

April 7, 2020 — Commercial fishermen depend on restaurants to survive.

Keith Decker, President of Blue Harvest Fisheries in New Bedford, says demand for seafood is down by 65-percent, and much of that is because many restaurants closed down at the beginning of the crisis.

Decker says blue and yellow fin tuna have been hit hard. When their last tuna vessel came in right after the coronavirus shock, “there were no buyers for the fish. That market dried up to zero.” The company inevitably had to sell off the fish for a fraction of its price or freeze it.

And while it’s unlikely high end sushi restaurants will be opening up anytime soon, some fishermen are hopeful. Wayne Reichle, owner of a scallop fishery in New Bedford, says there could be an uptick in demand for less expensive seafood.

“Restaurants are starting to re-open after they figured out they could do customer pick-up or home delivery,” Reichle says. “It’s taken two or three weeks but people sort of figured out how to continue supplying meals and keeping fresh seafood in the supply chain.”

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio

Seafood suppliers forced to adjust to rapidly changing market conditions

March 30, 2020 — U.S. seafood suppliers are working to quickly shift from foodservice to retail and direct-to-consumer channels as they deal with the immediate impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on their businesses.

Filer, Idaho-based Riverence Holdings LLC, which acquired farmed trout producer Clear Springs Foods in February, is realizing a significant loss in business due to its heavy focus on the foodservice sector, according to Riverence Director of Communications Gabe Watkins.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape Cod fishermen counting on federal stimulus funds

March 30, 2020 — The Donna Marie was at sea when Gov. Charlie Baker closed restaurants to all but takeout food March 14 to help slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

Owner Chris King called his 60-foot steel fishing vessel and the captain reported he had fish and lobsters onboard. They were able to sell those off, including a fire sale of lobster the next day at King’s fish market in Orleans. They then switched the boat over to scallop gear for the opening of that season April 1.

When restaurants shut down almost overnight, the Cape Cod and New England fishing industry scrambled to adapt. Switching to another fishery won’t be enough to weather this crisis, as the price paid to fishermen tumbled like the stock market in recent weeks.

Industry leaders on a March 20 conference call with state Division of Marine Fisheries Acting Director Daniel McKiernan estimated that 70% of all seafood sold in Massachusetts is consumed in restaurants. Especially hard-hit were the “luxury” seafood species such as lobster, scallops, swordfish and tuna favored by diners.

“They are collapsing. It’s real,” Keith Decker, CEO of New Bedford-based Blue Harvest Fisheries, said of prices. “This is having a profound impact on the seafood industry.”

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Carlos Rafael’s boats set to sail again with new owners

February 27, 2020 — Several boats once owned by disgraced fishing mogul Carlos Rafael, infamous in the region for being nicknamed the “Codfather,” will once again set sail, thanks to new management.

Blue Harvest Fisheries has bought several of the boats that became disused due to Rafael’s conviction for ignoring fishing quotas and limits, as well as smuggling profits overseas. Rafael was sentenced to four years in prison and can never run a fishing operation ever again.

The company says its acquisition will help keep locals employed on the New Bedford waterfront and maintain the tradition that made it the Whaling City for generations of fishermen.

“Our goal here is to create jobs and opportunities for New England fisheries,” Blue Harvest CEO Keith Decker said. “Everyone, in general, is very excited about what this means to the greater New Bedford area.”

Read the full story at WPRI

MASSACHUSETTS: Most of ‘Codfather’ fishing fleet sold

February 24, 2020 — Except for a few loose ends, Carlos Rafael’s fleet has now been sold.

Blue Harvest Fisheries, with facilities in Newport News, Virginia, and Fairhaven and New Bedford, finalized the purchase Thursday of 12 large fish trawlers, 27 fishing permits and their quota allocations that once belonged to the disgraced New Bedford fishing industry mogul.

Once dubbed “The Codfather” for his outsize presence and influence across the Northeast commercial fishing industry, Rafael is serving a 46-month sentence in a federal prison at the former Fort Devens in Harvard. He pleaded guilty to falsely labeling fish, smuggling cash, tax evasion and falsifying federal records as part of a scheme to catch and sell fish for which he did not have the necessary quota.

Under the terms of an agreement in a civil case brought by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Rafael agreed to leave commercial fishing and to sell off all his vessels by December 2020. His attorney, John Markey, said 95% of that divestiture is now complete. All that remain are a herring trawler and its permit, two fishing permits that are already under a sales agreement that has not been executed and two fishing vessels that have no permits.

Blue Harvest CEO Keith Decker and Markey would not disclose the amount paid for the dozen trawlers, but Markey said Rafael has now paid off his debts.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Blue Harvest CEO expects 15 Rafael vessel deal to close within weeks

January 14, 2020 — Now that their only competitor has dropped out of the bidding, Keith Decker, the CEO of Blue Harvest Fisheries, expects to close his company’s deal for 15 of Carlos Rafael’s groundfish vessels in the US port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, within the next few weeks, The Standard-Times, the community’s local newspaper, reported Friday.

“At this time, no, I don’t see any further impediments to closing the transaction,” he reportedly told the newspaper, adding that Blue Harvest plans to keep the vessels in New Bedford.

Undercurrent News broke the news on Jan. 8 that Richard and Raymond Canastra, the founders and owners of the Buyers and Sellers Exchange, New Bedford’s main seafood auction, have withdrawn their offer to acquire the vessels and their related permits.

The Canastras, back on Dec. 20, attempted to use a “right of first refusal” rule in New England’s Sector VII, which gives members of the greater  Northeast Sector Service Network — including BASE — 30 days to match any offer for vessels by companies or persons from outside the network, jumping ahead of Blue Harvest and its $19.3 million bid made on Nov. 21. The Canastras said they planned to sell the boats and their permits to individual harvesters in New Bedford. However, the two brothers said they lost their financial backers when Blue Harvest filed a lawsuit, on Dec. 23, in a Massachusetts state court.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News