Seafood’s path to the table not easy to track
Wholesalers look to maintain high standards
It wasn’t just another Friday in mid-June at Pagano’s Seafood in Norwalk, as the wholesale distributor shipped more than 50,000 pounds of seafood to some 500 customers throughout Connecticut and the tristate region heading into Father’s Day weekend, among the busiest times of the year.
As trucks were loaded for deliveries, Kris Drumgold could tick off with ease the ports from which the wholesaler sources its seafood. But with a few exceptions — including the docks of Norwalk where local oyster boats land their hauls — Drumgold and his fellow wholesale and retail buyers in Connecticut must rely on the suppliers who send them fresh and frozen seafood for redistribution to markets, restaurants and clubs.
In an Associated Press investigation published recently about one New York company claiming to offer only locally sourced seafood, tests determined that at least some of Sea to Table’s catch came from overseas, raising new questions about whether markets and restaurants are being duped in how they describe the fish they sell.
In an open letter to customers, Sea to Table founder Sean Dimin said his company is
“addressing these claims quickly” and has terminated its relationship with a supplier.
“We work every day to improve the seafood industry’s historically questionable practices,” Dimin stated. “One such way is to source (100 percent) domestic seafood. We would never knowingly purchase fish that doesn’t conform to our exacting standards.”
The seafood under the label
Whether from the Copp’s Island Oysters yard run by Norm Bloom & Son in Norwalk, Hunt’s Point in New York City or shipped east from Alaska, seafood comes to Connecticut supermarkets and restaurants by a number of channels.
Local wholesalers surmise the condition of fish via sampling at facilities such as the New Fulton Fish Market Cooperative at Hunt’s Point — which dubs itself the New York Stock Exchange of seafood — or similar waterfront warehouses in the Massachusetts ports of Gloucester and New Bedford, and Portland, Maine.
But save for big offshore trawlers that freeze and label their catches at sea, most wholesalers lack granular information on the boats that deliver the seafood they purchase beyond a list of vessels that serve any one market or auction.
Those facilities make efforts to assure buyers of the quality of the seafood in their stalls — at New Bedford’s Buyers & Sellers Exchange, boat captains adhere to an open-door policy allowing buyers to observe as crews unload their catch.
In an effort to assuage its customers, Whole Foods Market purchases largely from a set of suppliers it audits for quality assurance. The company uses a labeling system to alert customers when it lacks full information on the background of seafood it sells.
And local retailers have carved out a reputation based on quality, including Bon Ton Fish Market in Greenwich; Fjord’s Fish Market, which has locations in Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan and Westport; and Rowayton Seafood Fish Market in Norwalk.
From Norwalk to Stonington
All carry fruits of the sea from Connecticut’s comparatively tiny seafood industry, which, for the most part, buyers can source to the dock of origin for a small set of offerings, including oysters and other shellfish.
As of 2015, the most recent year for which the National Marine Fisheries Service estimated total catches, Connecticut had the second smallest commercial fishing industry of the coastal United States. But Connecticut’s small contingent of boats and oyster farms had a good year, with Connecticut’s catch up 25 percent from the year before, according to NMFS, for a total value of $15.8 million.
The Northeast industry is dominated by Maine and Massachusetts, which combined for sales of $1.1 billion in 2015. Alaska is the top overall fishery with nearly $1.8 billion in sales.
The state of Connecticut maintains only a partial list of seafood wholesalers, including producers such as oyster farmers Norm Bloom & Son and Briarpatch Enterprises in Milford; or Stonington Seafood Harvesters, the lone Northeast entity to chase royal red shrimp in the deep waters of the Atlantic, which are labeled Stonington Reds by some local markets.
Wholesale middlemen are also on the list which source from a range of producers for resale to markets and restaurants, like Pagano’s Seafood on Water Street in Norwalk, New Wave Seafood in Stamford and Gambardella’s Wholesale Fish, with locations in East Haven and Stonington.
Back in Norwalk, Drumgold took a break on the Friday before Father’s Day to assess demand heading into a busy weekend and summer.
“We’ll have 100 trucks come through today,” he said. “Hunt’s Point, Boston, Miami, Gloucester, California, Nova Scotia — we handle a lot.”