Category: Fisheries

Portland Shellfish Co.

| Posted in Fisheries

There were a flurry of news reports yesterday about the Portland Shellfish Company. According to a report in the Boston Globe,

Portland Shellfish Co. agreed to temporarily stop shipping its ready-to-eat lobster, shrimp and crab products to retailers in Massachusetts and other states, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday. The company violated the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the FDA alleges, by shipping food across state lines that was “prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions.”

MPBN interviewed owner Jeffrey Holden and learned more about what the company is doing to address the issue,

“In this plant we’ve put in new suspended ceiling, new roof, re-did the floors, repainted everything in the facility, we’ve put in new cleaning systems,” he says. The FDA, Holden says, is currently reviewing the paperwork associated with these upgrades, and will then send in inspectors to take a look.

With most of the company’s 150-strong workforce laid off until the problem is resolved, Holden says it’s essential to get FDA approval as soon as possible.

Tony’s Donuts & Lobster Certification Controversy

| Posted in Fisheries, Profiles, People

For this week’s Maine at Work article reporter Ray Routhier makes donuts at Tony’s.

My first question was: When do I flip them? I was hoping for a specific answer, such as “in three minutes.” But I soon learned that Proulx, a 10-year veteran doughnut maker at Tony’s Donuts in Portland, didn’t have a lot of specific answers.

“When they’re done on one side,” was Proulx’s reply to my flipping question.

…and for a good laugh watch this 3-Minute Maine video produced by Down East about making donuts at Tony’s.

Also in today’s Press Herald is a report on the controversy surrounding efforts to get Maine’s lobster fishery certified as a sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council.

“To have somebody in England evaluating our product and our conservation and how we do things doesn’t really cut it,” said Sheila Dassatt, executive director of the Downeast Lobstermen’s Association, which represents about 300 lobstermen along the Maine coast.

Oakhurst Dairy, Who Owns Organic, Ending the Currant Ban, Overfishing Ends

| Posted in People, Fisheries, Farming, Profiles

Also in today’s paper were articles about Oakhurst Dairy and the Bennett family who have run the business since it started in 1921,

“We have been able to stave off being bought by maintaining a strong brand identity. People know what we do and what we stand for,” Oakhurst President and Chief Operating Officer William Bennett said during a tour this week of the Oakhurst production plant on Forest Avenue.

reports on the effort to repeal the ban on growing currants in Maine, and on organic programming at the Maine Agricultural Trades Show,

Lisa Fernandes of Cape Elizabeth, who leads the Portland Permaculture Meetup, is coordinating the effort to get an old Maine law banning Ribes plants repealed. The law was enacted decades ago in an effort to control white pine blister rust, a plant disease that requires both pines and Ribes plants to persist.

and on statements made by the former chief scientist of NOAA’s Fisheries Service that overfishing will end this year,

The projected end of overfishing comes during a turbulent fishing year that has seen New England fishermen switch to a radically new management system. But scientist Steve Murawski said that for the first time in written fishing history, which goes back to 1900, “As far as we know, we’ve hit the right levels, which is a milestone.”

Fish Co-op, Food & Dining

| Posted in Fisheries, General News

Today’s Press Herald reports on the decrease of fishing boats based in Portland and the efforts of the Fish Co-op to use it’s remaining funds to address one issue responsible for the exodus to Massachusetts. (listen to this piece from Maine Things Considered for additional information)

The cooperative, which is going out of business, is using most of the proceeds from its investment in a fuel and ice company to provide rebates covering Maine’s 5 percent tax on diesel marine fuel.

Today’s paper also includes the weekly Food & Dining section: gingerbread houses, holiday cooking, food book gift ideas and ideas for eating out over the holidays.

Maine Shrimp Season Off to a Good Start

| Posted in Fisheries

There’s a report in today’s Press Herald on the start of the Maine shrimp season.

Mike Alfiero, whose family owns Harbor Fish Market on Custom House Wharf, said he planned to charge around $5.99 to $6.99 a pound for hand-picked meat, $3.99 to $4.99 a pound for headless shrimp, and $1 to $1.25 a pound for whole shrimp when supplies show up in display cases today.

Meat at Work, Red Crab, John Martin

| Posted in Fisheries, People

Today’s Press Herald includes a feature story about the red crab fishery,

He owns the majority of the handful of permits allowed to catch deep-sea red crab — a fishery valued at $2.4 million to $4.2 million a year between 2004 and 2008, according to the New England Fishery Management Council. Williams owns the dominant share of the crab fishing fleet and has just opened his own deep-sea red crab processing plant.

a Maine at Work article where reporter Ray Routhier learns to butcher meat at Fresh Approach,

We started the morning cutting some New York strip steaks, which would sell for $9.99 a pound. McCourt put the hunk of meat on the cutting table and handed me a knife — it looked more like a machete to me. It was about 2 feet long, with a curved blade.

and an obituary of John P. Martin,

Martin is probably best known in the Portland area for his restaurants, such as the Merry Manor in South Portland and the Art Gallery in downtown Portland, which operated for many years.

GMRI Seafood Labeling Program

| Posted in Fisheries

The Gulf of Maine Research Institute is setting up a program to label local sustainable seafood, according to a report from Working Waterfront.

To meet GMRI’s criteria, the seafood must be traced to the Gulf of Maine region. In addition, there are requirements for responsible harvest and traceability for wild seafood, including maintaining sustainable practices in the fisheries, ensuring stock sizes are below management target levels and enforcement on general regulations. The criteria for farmed seafood is to ensure indigenous marine life and its environment is not threatened as well as recorded data for amounts of feed, frequency of cleaning, inspections and maintenance.

Open Creamery Day & Herring Fishery

| Posted in Events, Fisheries

Today’s Press Herald includes an article on the 2010 Open Creamery Day taking place Sunday October 10,

“We’ll give out samples and people will get to see the farm and animals. There’s sheep and goats — we have little ones running around — and a guard llama. Coyotes got a lot of our sheep a few years ago, so we got her and haven’t had any problems since.”

Koons said it is important that people know where their food comes from and how it is produced. Open Creamery Day is a great way to teach people, she said.

Visit the Maine Cheese Guild website for more information on Open Creamery Day and a list of participating cheese makers.
The paper also includes a report on new efforts to manage the herring fishery.

Herring’s ecological importance is enormous, because it is a major food source for groundfish, marine mammals, tuna and other species. It also is the preferred bait for Maine’s 5,800 lobstermen — whose industry generates $300 million a year in sales and employs thousands of workers at processing plants, dealerships and restaurants.

Open Creamery Day & Herring Fishery

| Posted in Fisheries, Events

Today’s Press Herald includes an article on the 2010 Open Creamery Day taking place Sunday October 10,

“We’ll give out samples and people will get to see the farm and animals. There’s sheep and goats — we have little ones running around — and a guard llama. Coyotes got a lot of our sheep a few years ago, so we got her and haven’t had any problems since.”

Koons said it is important that people know where their food comes from and how it is produced. Open Creamery Day is a great way to teach people, she said.

Visit the Maine Cheese Guild website for more information on Open Creamery Day and a list of participating cheese makers.

The paper also includes a report on new efforts to manage the herring fishery.

Herring’s ecological importance is enormous, because it is a major food source for groundfish, marine mammals, tuna and other species. It also is the preferred bait for Maine’s 5,800 lobstermen — whose industry generates $300 million a year in sales and employs thousands of workers at processing plants, dealerships and restaurants.