Saving Seafood

Seafood companies step up to help COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts

April 13, 2020 — Seafood companies across the United States have stepped up with donations of food, personal protective equipment, soap, and other items in response to the coronavirus crisis that is gripping the nation.

Sealaska, Bumble Bee, Tampa Bay Fisheries, Handy Seafood, Verlasso, and Diversified Communications are just a few companies in the seafood industry that have made efforts to help their communities in the ongoing health crisis that has killed more than 20,400 citizens, sickened half-a-million, and left practically the entire country with limited access to food and other necessities of life.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Facing “too many legacy issues,” National Fish and Seafood closes

May 13, 2019 — National Fish and Seafood announced that it was immediately ceasing operations on Friday, 10 May, marking the end of its long history in the seafood business and putting 150 employees out of work.

Founded in 1979, the Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based seafood processor, which sells the Matlaw’s stuffed clam line, had been reeling financially since owner Pacific Andes filed for bankruptcy in 2016. NFS put itself up for sale, and several companies – including Red Chamber – considered purchasing it, but ultimately never did.

“Unfortunately, despite great strides we made in improving operating performance, National Fish just had too many legacy issues that prevented us from consummating a sale,” NFS President Todd Provost said in a press release.

In January 2019, NFS demanded payment from Pacific Andes, which owes NFS USD 30 million (EUR 28 million), according to court documents. Plus, NFS was paying out legal fees for its trade secrets lawsuit against Tampa Bay Fisheries for the latter half of 2018 and early 2019, before both suppliers agreed to settle the case in mid-March. And former NFS President Jack Ventola was convicted of fraudulently diverting money from the company and then not paying taxes on the income.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

National Fish, Tampa Bay resolve trade secrets case

March 11, 2019 –A federal judge dismissed National Fish & Seafood’s (NFS) trade secrets case against Tampa Bay Fisheries, its parent company Red Chamber, and former employee Kathleen Scanlon after the companies agreed to resolve the lawsuit.

Pacific Andes-owned NFS and Tampa Bay “jointly announce that they have satisfactorily resolved the lawsuit brought by NFS against Tampa Bay, Kathleen Scanlon, Red Chamber Co., and certain individuals affiliated with Tampa Bay,” the companies said in a statement provided to SeafoodSource.

As a result of the confidential settlement, all claims will be dismissed, NFS and Tampa Bay said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Judge sets deadlines in fish espionage case

March 5, 2019 — The opposing sides in the industrial espionage lawsuit filed by National Fish & Seafood against a Florida competitor have spent much of the past two months wrangling over discovery and a federal judge has set deadlines that could end the squabbling and allow the case to move forward.

U.S. District Court Judge M. Page Kelly on Friday acceded to requests from Gloucester-based National Fish and Florida-based Tampa Bay Fisheries and other defendants to extend the deadlines for discovery.

Kelly, who sits in federal court in Boston, set March 15 as the deadline for all written fact discovery and April 15 for the close of all fact discovery.

In its lawsuit, National Fish claims that executives at Florida-based Tampa Bay Fisheries encouraged and conspired with Kathleen A. Scanlon, a former National Fish employee, to copy “substantial volumes of NFS’ confidential business information and trade secrets”  in her final days at National Fish before she started a position with Tampa Bay Fisheries.

Scanlon, who rose to chief of research and development and quality control in her 23 years at National Fish, denies the allegations, as do the other Tampa Bay executives named as defendants.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Processor: New hire had no know-how to steal fish secrets

September 14, 2018 — Tampa Bay Fisheries, the Florida seafood company that Gloucester-based National Fish & Seafood accuses of stealing trade secrets, has come out swinging in its first response to the charges.

In a document filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, Tampa Bay Fisheries characterized the civil lawsuit filed by NFS as “a fish tale about the one that got away” and claimed it never obtained any of the Gloucester seafood processor’s secrets.

The document was filed in opposition to NFS’ motion for a preliminary injunction. It  highlighted financial problems at NFS parent company Pacific Andes International Holdings — which is in the midst of an extraordinarily complex bankruptcy proceeding — and the criminal convictions of three top NFS executives or board members during the past two years.

“This is not a case about Tampa Bay seeking any information whatsoever from NFS,” Tampa Bay’s lawyers argued in their filing. “This is a case about NFS, a bankrupt company run by investors and still reeling from its top executives’ criminal convictions, seeking a pretext to undermine Tampa Bay’s legitimate success. The evidence is clear — there is no scheme and no grand conspiracy.”

U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin has yet to rule on NFS’ motion for the preliminary injunction.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

National Fish accuses former employee of sharing trade secrets in recent lawsuit

July 26, 2018 –Kathleen Scanlon – the former head of research, development, and quality assurance for National Fish & Seafood – was ordered not to work for her new employer, Tampa Bay Fisheries, and return National Fish property in a heated court battle.

Pacific Andes-owned National Fish, based in Gloucester, Massachusetts, filed a complaint against Scanlon, Tampa Bay, and a “John Doe” on 20 July, alleging that Scanlon “unlawfully acquired NFS’ confidential information and trade secrets” involving its proprietary clam production process.

NFS, which markets the longstanding Matlaw’s stuffed clam and seafood line, said Scanlon’s action were “part of a scheme to harm NFS’ position in the seafood-supply industry,” according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Dover, Florida-based Tampa Bay Fisheries specializes in private label seafood for retailers and restaurants. Both suppliers recently tried to secure a national listing with Whole Foods Market, according to the complaint.

After working for NFS for 20 years, Scanlon voluntarily resigned on 11 July. She was set to begin working for Tampa Bay Fisheries on 23 July.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

National Fish & Seafood sues former employee

July 25, 2018 — Care for a side order of alleged corporate espionage with your stuffed clams? Belly on up to the bar.

As in the legal bar.

Gloucester-based National Fish & Seafood is accusing its former head of research, development and quality assurance of absconding with confidential processing information and other corporate trade secrets when she resigned recently to take a similar position with a Florida-based seafood competitor.

In a civil lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Boston, NFS alleges Kathleen A. Scanlon, who worked at NFS for more than 20 years before resigning about two weeks ago, used company-issued equipment to help steal confidential recipe, processing and customer information as a means of assisting her new employer, Tampa Bay Fisheries Inc. of Dover, Florida.

The suit also names Tampa Bay Fisheries as a co-defendant, along with an unnamed John Doe at Tampa Bay Fisheries who allegedly helped hatch the plan.

Officials at Tampa Bay Fisheries did not respond to phone calls Monday seeking comment.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times