Seafood

Help for local fishermen competing for crab may be on the way in the form of legislation establishing crab pot limits. Proponents say the bill, written by Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, will not only ease competition from large boats but also will diminish the frenzy of the season's opening weeks by restraining the intensity of fishing.

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A Maine Internet company that focuses on seafood is casting a wider net as it launches new websites listing companies that sell various kinds of seafood. …

When it was announced on Dec. 2 that Ocean Choice International would be permanently closing two of their plants, in Port Union and Marystown, the news that $5 million worth of investments would be made to five of OCI’s other plants didn’t seem to soften the blow. …

A Chilean mussel fishery has been entered into independent, third-party assessment in the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) certification program by the fishery client group Toralla S.A. and Cultivos Toralla S.A. The assessment will evaluate the fishery against the Marine Stewardship Council principles and criteria for sustainable fishing and, if successful, products will be eligible to bear the MSC ecolabel recognizing products from well-managed and sustainable sources. …

Blue Oasis Shrimp Farm, owned by Ganix Bio-Technologies, in July celebrated the grand opening of its 30,000-square-foot, $5 million operation miles north of the Strip. The shrimp in the farm's zero-discharge, closed-containment ponds were pint-sized then, nowhere close to consumption. The facility is expected to produce 462,177 pounds of shrimp annually at full production. …