The County of Suffolk is approaching a center for the transformation of seafood supported by the government, said officials, because it explores the potential sites and the type of work to be done before putting a proposal to the public offer.
On Friday, at the New York Sea Fruit summit in Riverhead, Edward P. Romaine, director of the county, spoke in favor of the idea and a separate panel led by the Cornell Cooperative Extension discussed the services it could offer from a list of potential locations, from Babylon to Montak.
A transformation installation capable of spinning fish, prayer and the power of crustaceans, and treating Varech could help create new markets for fish that are not economically viable for sale, said experts. Mechanical fillet machines could help treat and market more PORGIES, a very abundant species. The bait market would also get a boost. And the transformation could help an emerging market for the sugar varech, while creating new markets for private crustaceans, including canned and frozen foods.
“We work there,” said Roman in an interview at the top, which presented the results of an investigation into fishing interests across the county. A request for proposals is written by the Comté economic development team. Romaine also said that the county was moving forward with a seafood festival planned at Smith Point County Park in August.
What Newsday has found
- The County of Suffolk approaches a Ease of transformation of seafood, said officials because it explores potential sites and the type of work to be done before putting a proposal for public offering.
- Ed Romaine, leader of the county, spoke in favor of the idea During an industry summit in Riverhead and a panel led by the Cornell Cooperative Extension discussed the services it could offer.
- A transformation installation capable of net, praying and crustaceans, And the process process could help create new markets for fish that are not economically viable for sale now, experts said.
We do not know how much a treatment installation would cost and which would have it and exploit it.
“The feasibility study will present construction options as well as future management configurations for the consideration of the county,” said Roman spokesperson Michael Martino.
Any level of help would be greeted by fishing interests, which are faced with the challenges of cheap imports, stricter fishing restrictions and increased costs. Many have approved the idea of a central installation in Riverhead or Calverton – near rivers and available land. Yaphank, as Newsday reports previously, is another potential location on the county lands. But there could be more than one.
“What we have found is that because there are so many things that are necessary, like the net and the ice, that you cannot do everything in a single building and say Yaphank,” said Amanda Dauman, specialist in peaches at Cornell, who directed a presentation that questioned the interests of fishing. “You must have it where people who need it.”
In addition to treatment, most respondents in the survey highlighted the need for basic services in fishing ports, including more reliable and fresh electricity, ice machines and appropriate lighting. Most commercial fishing quays need repairs.
Amanda Jones, operations director at Montauk Inlet Seafood, said there was a need for glacial houses and the transformation of the platform fish. Currently, the only ice house is in Montauk, the largest fishing port in the state, but could disappear after a recent sale of Gosman, which has the installation of ice.
In addition, she said, the lack of platform treatment for calmars, among other species, leads fishing boats to Connecticut and Rhode Island to disembark fish and supply.
“Without treatment in Dockside, we lose this business during the squid season,” she said. Inlet asked for permits for a lobster in Montauk.
Billy Reed, who operates a trawler at Shinnecock Inlet, said that he would take care of “the treatment of the coast where we can treat the Portgies with a net machine”.
He said that such a plan could also make Dogfish, an underused fish that is expensive in New Bedford, Massachusetts, for transformation, viable for the local market.
“An installation at the edge of the tip would benefit several layers of society,” he said, making the cuts of fish cheaper more widely available. “We could use seafood to nourish everyone on a fair and fair plan.”
For Stephanie Villani, who is a co -owner of Blue Moon Fish in Mattiteck, the needs are basic.
“We don’t have a place (fish packaging) at the entrance (Mattuck),” she said. “We need ice, we need more electric infrastructure. We need all these basic things.”
For Sue Wicks, a retired WNBA champion who exploits oysters from Violet Cove in the bay of Moriches, the prospect of the facilities to help treat the promise of the kelp.
“We need treatment to get these large hundreds of Kelp books out of the boat, on a quay and in a truck,” she said. Refrigeration and drying installations are also necessary. “It is a very fragile culture and we need treatment.”
The fish that would be better served by a transformation installation include calmars, porgies, blue fish, blue fish and oysters, found Cornell. The ability to freeze fish for the market could “alleviate some of these availability problems” during the offseason and “stabilize prices”, said Dauman.
Mark Harrington, newsday journalist since 1999, covers energy, cellars, Indian affairs and fisheries.
