Saving Seafood

FLORIDA: Gulf lobster: Post-covid, hope for ‘normal season with good pricing’

July 6, 2021 — Florida’s 2020-21 spiny lobster season was extremely poor, with low production and low early-season boat prices that only rebounded in the winter when the crustaceans were scarce.

But as always, Keys seafood dealers and fishermen remain optimistic that the 2021-22 season, which opens in August and runs through March, will return to average harvest levels of between 5.5 million and 6 million pounds.

According to state commercial landings data, only about 3.5 million pounds of lobster tails were harvested in 2020, with an average boat price of about $7. Landings for 2021, which are still incomplete, show about 350,000 pounds with an average price of more than $11.50, owing to a surge in purchase of live product by Chinese buyers for that nation’s winter New Year celebration.

“Production-wise, we’re way off,” said Gary Graves, who operates Keys Fisheries, a restaurant, market and wholesaler in Marathon, Fla. “The season was horrible. Is it water quality? Is it the storms that destroyed the habitat? I’ve been doing this 50 years. This year, we’re looking forward to a normal season with good pricing. There’s a shortage of lobster around the world and prices should be good.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Florida lobster fishermen hope for normal season

July 24, 2020 — Poor production, lingering effects from previous hurricanes, and the COVID-19 pandemic knocked Florida spiny lobster fishermen down, but not out during the 2019-20 harvest season. Many are gearing up and looking forward to August’s opening.

“All my fishermen are getting ready. We expect a normal year,” said Gary Graves, operator of Keys Fisheries in Marathon. “My fear this year is storms. The water temperature is so hot.” The Florida Keys stayed out of harm’s way during last year’s hurricane season, but Graves said lobster production was down about 35 percent, possibly because of lower production in the Caribbean basin, where most of Florida’s crustaceans are spawned.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Stone Crabs Offer Second Chance For Keys Commercial Fishing Industry

October 16, 2017 — MIAMI — Tourism has been the focus of a lot of attention — and $1 million in emergency advertising — in the Florida Keys since Hurricane Irma.

But the Keys have another major industry. The island chain makes up the most valuable commercial fishery in Florida — and ranks 10th in the nation, up there with ports in New England, Alaska and Louisiana.

At Keys Fisheries in Marathon, Gary Graves was getting ready for big crowds as the opening of stone crab season approached.

“People know stone crab season like football season,” he said. “Hey, Oct. 15th — it’s stone crab season.”

A few days before the season opened, Daniel Padron was working on stone crab traps at a marina on Stock Island.

“We’ve got some traps in the water, trying to get the last couple ready to go,” he said. “Been backed up because of Irma.”

Read and listen to the full story at WLRN

Small delivery “reefer vans” making inroads in seafood distribution

October 13th, 2016 — Gary Graves’ business, Keys Fisheries, is quickly gaining a following around its home state.

But with growing success came a logistical problem: how could the processor and distributor of lobster and stone crab, based in Marathon, Florida, in the state’s southern tip, quickly and efficiently make deliveries to all of its new customers across the state?

Many of these first-time orders are small, test orders, and are coming from restaurants or retailers located in urban locations in Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville. After much thinking, Graves said he decided to buy a Ford Transit 350 extended-height freezer truck.

“This truck can get into tight spaces, like restaurants in the middle of cities. You can get it anywhere you can take a car,” he said. “If I got a bigger truck, I would have been restricted in how I could make deliveries.”

Graves said he wants the focus of his job – and his company – to be on seafood and not the intricacies of delivery driving. So his goal with the small truck is to build up a loyal customer base and then pass off distribution onto someone else, he said.

“The whole idea of the small vehicle is that we don’t want to manage a whole fleet of trucks or the complication of hiring and managing a bunch of drivers,” Graves said. “We want to establish some good business and then find other ways to distribute, working with other people already driving the route if possible.”

Stephen Mullin, the vice president of marketing for Bush Specialty Vehicles, which sold Graves his van, said the popularity of “reefer vans” like the one Graves purchased is one the rise.

Read the full story at Seafood Source