Saving Seafood

Coast Guard Suspends Search for Fisherman off Montauk

November 9, 2020 — Authorities suspended a search Sunday for a crew member of a commercial fishing boat who went overboard off eastern Long Island.

The fishing vessel Hope and Sydney sent a distress call at 11:20 p.m. Saturday reporting that crew member Carl Whitney, 32, had gone overboard about 18 miles south of Montauk Point, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The missing fisherman was not wearing a life jacket, Coast Guard officials said in a news release.

Whitney went overboard the day after a teenage fisherman was swept out to sea at Cupsogue Beach County Park in Westhampton Beach. The search for the teenager continued Sunday, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News

Local fish markets reel from loss of bay scallops

November 3, 2020 — The bay-scallop season on Long Island’s East End started Monday, but Braun Seafood Co., which serves 700 restaurants and a large retail base market, has yet to take in even a pound of the prized shellfish.

“It’s a shame,” said Ken Homan, the company’s president. “Everybody needs that extra buck, particularly with the economy the way it’s been this year. But it’s a bust.”

As reported in Newsday on Sunday, the Peconic Bay scallop fishery appears to have suffered another catastrophic die-off, idling scores of baymen and recreational scallopers and leaving another $1.6 million hole in an economy already reeling from COVID-battered restaurants.

Local fish markets, which saw the bottom fall out of their businesses during spring lockdowns, had been looking to scallops to help shore up a difficult year that saw many bounce back sharply during the summer, mainly on the back of increased retail business and restaurants opening outdoors.

Read the full story at Newsday

Fishermen’s business remains in the doldrums even as restaurants reopen

June 16, 2020 — The reopening of Long Island restaurants for outdoor dining hasn’t translated into banner days for the region’s commercial fishermen and fish dealers, who say demand for wholesale fish, clams and oysters is inching up but nowhere near past levels.

While many local fishermen sell to local retailers, a steady local business even through the pandemic, the lion’s share of local fish go to companies that distribute to restaurants throughout the region and across the country. Three months of lockdowns over the coronavirus has backed up the market for the products, leaving warehouses for local frozen fish such as squid fully stocked, while drastically reducing demand for local clams and oysters. Market prices for most have fallen, though some, like fluke, are on the rebound.

Local fishermen have been catching and selling fluke, but with the New York quota at 100 pounds a day, the market isn’t lucrative. The market for porgies, also known as scup, has picked up as the plentiful fish come into season and more consumers learn to appreciate its value (and cook it whole).

Bill Zeller, owner of Captree Clam in West Babylon, said his business is down by around two-thirds from where it was a year ago, nearly all of  the drop tied to restaurant closures. He delivers to distributors across the nation — Florida, Boston, the West Coast, where protests in recent weeks also led to some order cancellations just as some states were reopening.

Read the full story at Newsday

NEW YORK: Montauk Fishermen Launch New Dock to Dish Seafood Delivery Program

May 13, 2020 — Montauk’s fishermen have launched a historic and innovative new initiative to deliver fresh, New York State-certified seafood straight from their boats to local residents’ doorsteps. The effort, called Dock to Dish 3.0, comes just in time, as restaurant closures and stay-at-home orders have hurt traditional distribution channels and put perishable catches in danger.

Dock to Dish 3.0 is now operating locally as a pilot program for Montauk area residents, offering no-contact subscriptions via an e-commerce platform, with deliveries eventually expanding in June to reach more than 1,000 customers around Long Island and the NY Metropolitan Area each week. More than 500 people have already joined a waiting lists for memberships.

Designed to replace recently crippled and collapsed supply lines, and bring safety and balance to unpredictable market conditions that have arisen during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this new system creates a distribution channel between Montauk’s commercial fishing fleet and NY consumers. The Long Island Commercial Fishing Association and United Parcel Service (UPS) have stepped up as partners to facilitate the subscription program, which will allow more than two dozen Long Island fishermen to ship New York State-certified fish fillets and sea scallops to members.

Read the full story at Dan’s Papers

Long Island fishing industry takes a hit during pandemic

May 13, 2020 — On Tuesday morning, commercial fishing boats sat idle in the water at the Montauk town dock—an uncommon sight, especially this time of year. But lately, it’s become the new normal.

Bonnie Brady, the executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said that the majority of East End commercial fishermen, who are essential food production workers, are reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve lost a tremendous amount of sales since many restaurants closed.

“When the restaurants closed, we lost the market with which we sold our fish,” Brady said. “We need to find ways to create markets, to create processing on the fly, long-term create mobile fish markets—anything and everything until we get our present system back in order.”

Pot fisherman Jim Auteri, who catches lobster, was hoping for a banner season.

Read the full story at Fox 5

NEW YORK: Where is money for Long Island’s fishing industry?

May 8, 2020 — Containing more than $2 trillion in stimulus spending, the CARES Act seemingly had something for everybody reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. That includes the nation’s fishermen, many of whom call Long Island their home. CARES contains $300 million to compensate both those who live off the sales of their catches and those whose boats are chartered by recreational anglers.

Boats that docked in Montauk alone in 2018 nabbed 12 million pounds of fish and cleared $18 million for the catch.

But for six weeks, none of the appropriated $300 million had been divvied up or released, and Rep. Lee Zeldin was badgering Congress and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for details on how it would be divided and paid out.  Then, Thursday afternoon, information began to trickle out. The money is reportedly being allotted based on past-year revenues of each state’s fishing industries, so much of it went to big fishing states. Sen. Susan Collins tweeted that Maine, for instance, got about $20 million.

Read the full story at Newsday

NEW YORK: Long Island butchers, fish markets and more pivot to delivery

April 20, 2020 — Man cannot live on takeout alone and, at some point, even the most stove-averse Long Islanders are going to have to start cooking. The good news is that some big-time restaurant suppliers, in an effort to shore up their flagging business, are now delivering to regular folks. Many local food purveyors are ramping up or initiating takeout services so you don’t have to go to the market, and some enterprising restaurants and caterers are even getting into the grocery game. In general, these companies offer quicker and more dependable delivery than regular supermarkets whose stock must be ordered through Instacart. But they are all overburdened in this new age of takeout so be prepared to be patient.

GENERAL GROCERIES

Baldor Specialty Foods: You’ve been eating Baldor provisions for decades without knowing it: it is one of the Northeast’s largest wholesale importers and distributors of fresh produce and specialty foods, a staple supplier of fine restaurants and markets. Now Baldor is making its vast inventory of specialty food available directly to consumers. All the staples are here, as well as foie gras, fiddlehead ferns and beef cheeks and pretty much anything you have ever eaten. Free delivery to all of Long Island with a $250 minimum. More info: baldorfood.com

The Chef’s Warehouse: One of the tristate region’s leading food service suppliers is now offering you 10-packs of frozen Neapolitan pizzas, 1-pound cans of jumbo lump crab meat, 5-liter tubs of gelato plus meats, produce, dairy and grocery items. Delivery takes up to four business days; trucks come to Long Island on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; free delivery for orders over $250 ($35 fee for smaller orders). More info: chefswarehouse.com

DiCarlo Foods (1630 N. Ocean Ave., Holtsville): You’ve probably seen DiCarlo’s trucks on Long Island’s roads and highways. The Holtsville-based company, founded in 1963, is one of the metropolitan area’s largest food distributors, supplying restaurants, pizzerias, hotels and institutions. But attached to the 5-million cubic-foot warehouse is a “Cash & Carry” open to the public that carries a wide range of fresh, frozen and packaged foods. Home delivery is available as well. More info: 631-758-6000, dicarlofood.com

Read the full story at Newsday

Tensions build over menhaden fishing off coast of New York’s Long Island

April 7, 2020 — The timing of a recent crackdown on the use of purse seiners to catch menhaden off the coast of the state of New York’s Long Island is being questioned, the local newspaper News Day reports.

Some fishermen, who launched their boats from a ramp in Riverhead, were reportedly greeted Wednesday morning by Travis Wooten, a constable, who said they would be cited for using seine nets that stretch beyond the town’s 50-foot limit. Wooten said his stakeout was the result of complaints by residents who are concerned the fishing boats are damaging the bay bottom, depleting it of companion species such as striped bass.

The harvesters, who previously worked in cooperation with the town to prevent large die-offs of the menhaden, also known as bunkers, said they were surprised by the move.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Wholesale fish prices drop as restaurants cut back

March 17, 2020 — Prices for lobsters and other fish are seeing sharp drops as export markets see declines and restaurants have cut back on orders as customers hunker down amid the coronavirus outbreak, Long Island fish dealers say.

Meanwhile, the decision to limit restaurants and bars to delivery and takeout only is rippling across the wholesale fish market, leading one large East End fish seller to tell local baymen to stop fishing altogether until demand catches up with supply.

The wholesale price for lobsters, normally anywhere from $12 to $15 a pound this time of year, have fallen under $8, dealers say. Other normally pricey fish such as tuna and swordfish are also taking a dive, as restaurants in New York City cut back on orders because of stay-at-home customers, or city residents who have left to summer homes in the Hamptons.

If there’s any silver lining right now, said Nino Locascio, co-owner of Mastic Seafood in Mastic, it’s the walk-in retail market in Suffolk, where business has remained brisk. He also sells wholesale to local restaurants, and that business is down “dramatically,” he said.

Read the full story at Newsday

Wanted: Fishermen to test net bellies

February 19, 2020 — Small-mesh commercial fishermen in the whiting and other fisheries may be eligible to receive — at no cost — new net technology that has shown promise in significantly reducing bycatch of yellowtail, winter and windowpane flounder.

The project, organized by the Long Island-based Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program and funded by NOAA Fisheries, will provide 25 approved fishermen with vouchers that would cover the full $800 cost of a bycatch reduction technology called a large mesh belly panel.

“It’s a concept first tested in 2004 to assist fishermen with concerns and issues to do with bycatch,” said Tara McClintock, a Cornell Cooperative Extension fishery specialist. “We wanted to expand on that work in the small-mesh multispecies fishery.”

McClintock said the panels, which are made of 80-centimeter mesh with 6-millimeter poly-webbing, can be inserted into traditional four-seam, bottom-trawl nets. They replace the original net’s first bottom belly to create larger openings to mitigate bycatch.

She said CCE has performed multiple studies on the innovative net gear aboard industry vessels since 2010, with consistently positive results.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times