Tag Archives: Blue Harvest
A fishing conglomerate created a fake company to facilitate a merger. It could now be on the hook for billions of dollars.
Commercial fishers are one of the professions that’s been nickeled-and-dimed in recent decades, right up there with long-haul truckers and chicken farmers. In New Bedford, Massachusetts, the most lucrative port for seafood catches in the country, a fisherman profiled by ProPublica in 2022 was forced to contract with one of the world’s seafood powerhouses, Blue Harvest, because it had become the only buyer in the local market. Per the contract, fishers have to lease fishing permits from the company; the costs for vessel maintenance, fuel, gear, and repairs on company-owned boats are taken out from fishers’ own paychecks, called settlement sheets. After fishing around the clock for ten days to meet quotas, Jerry Leeman only made 14 cents on the pound and his crew 7 cents, even as their haddock catch sold for $2.28 per pound at market. Blue Harvest took the lion’s share of earnings, while placing all the risks of the trade onto fishers. “Tell me how I can catch 50,000 pounds of fish yet I don’t know what my kids are going to have for dinner,” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:59
Opinion: In memoriam of Blue Harvest — private equity giveth, and it taketh away
You have to be careful when you swim with sharks — sometimes private equity sponsors. Sadly, for New Bedford, Blue Harvest did business with the Dutch private equity firm Bregal Partners. There’s a lot to unpack here, but one thing that sticks out is why a Dutch financial firm would have an interest in a New Bedford fishing company? Big fans of cod? Nope. Money. The answer is always money. The point here is not to blame the process — it’s to learn to avoid the greedy players involved and reflect on why we all did not see it coming. Or at the very least for being surprised it happened. more, >>click to read<< 16:59
Blue Harvest to close New Bedford processing plant, lay off 64 workers
“All Blue Harvest employees who perform food processing work at this facility will be separated. This action is expected to be permanent,” the company wrote in a letter to its staff, signed by company president Chip Wilson and dated Friday, March 24. Blue Harvest employees, both processors and fishermen were confused and frustrated by the sudden announcement. “Everyone’s making decisions, but they’re not talking to the guys catching the fish,” said one Blue Harvest fisherman, who asked not to be identified. “I still have my job. But who knows? We’re just told to go fishing.” >click to read< 11:25
Investigation reveals private equity firms dominate the New Bedford fishing industry
A debate is raging in the local scallop industry about whether fishermen should be allowed to lease their permits. Supporters say the proposal could help fishermen with a small catch share, or those who can’t get out to sea, stay in the business, because they could lease their permit to another captain. Opponents worry it would allow big companies to consolidate the industry and push small fishermen out, similar to what has happened in the groundfishing industry. CAI’s Kathryn Eident talked with Will Sennott, a reporter with the New Bedford Light, about his investigation into permit leasing in the groundfishing industry, and how he found that some of the biggest winners are multinational private equity firms, not small fishermen. >click to read< 16:21
Commercial fishing industry in free fall as restaurants close, consumers hunker down and vessels tie up
The novel coronavirus pandemic has destroyed demand for seafood across a complicated U.S. supply chain, from luxury items such as lobster and crab, generally consumed at restaurants, to grocery staples sourced from the world’s fish farms. Now, with restaurants closed, many of the nation’s fisheries — across geography, species, gear types and management — have reported sales slumps as high as 95 percent. Boats from Honolulu to Buzzards Bay, Mass., are tied up dockside, with fisheries in the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska affected, throwing thousands of fishermen out of work and devastating coastal communities. >click to read< 16:52
BASE withdraws its bid to buy Carlos Rafael’s boats
An attempt to gain control of a large portion of Carlos Rafael’s fleet by the local seafood auction has been withdrawn after a fight over the vessels made its way to court.,, The fight is an important one as New Bedford is trying to keep the fishing and scallop boats, as well as their federal permits, in the city. Though both entities have pledged to do that, Blue Harvest would consolidate ownership and BASE has said it would resell the boats to individual owners. >click to read< 16:12
Phil Paleologos: The Canastra Brothers withdraw their offer
With no explanation offered, the respected Canastra brothers will not move forward with a transaction to acquire 15 vessels. Adios to Carlos Rafael’s groundfish and scallop vessels. Once upon a time, the “Codfather” benefited from close to 40 vessels that generated about $100 million per year in sales. We can say arrivederci to 15 more Rafael vessels as it was announced that Richard and Raymond Canastra, owners of BASE Seafood Auction in New Bedford, have officially taken their offer to purchase the vessels off the table. >click to read< 16:53
