Tag Archives: sold to Blue Harvest Fisheries
Breaking: Canastras buy vessels, permits from Blue Harvest bankruptcy
The owners of New Bedford’s seafood auction, closed a deal to buy out groundfish giant Blue Harvest Fisheries from bankruptcy, a move finalized Wednesday with the approval of a federal judge. After a short bidding war, Cassie Canastra submitted the highest bid of $12 million on Monday, beating out the second-highest bid from O’Hara Corporation, which is a part owner of New Bedford-based Eastern Fisheries, by $750,000. The sale includes “all the vessels, all the permits” that once belonged to Blue Harvest Fisheries. It includes eight vessels and 48 state and federal fishing permits, representing about 13% of all Northeast groundfish permits or about 250 million pounds of quota for the current fishing year. >>click to read<< 14:22
Carlos Rafael: Twelve fishing vessels sold to Blue Harvest Fisheries to stay in New Bedford
“Today’s acquisition by Blue Harvest represents a level of investment in New Bedford and the groundfish fishery we haven’t seen in years,” said Port of New Bedford Director Ed Anthes-Washburn. “The Port is pleased to see that Blue Harvest is continuing to invest in vessels, processing and facilities.”
Rafael, dubbed ‘The Codfather,’ controlled a significant portion of New Bedford’s fishing fleet before a federal investigation and ensuing guilty plea led to a 46-month prison sentence for falsifying fishing quota, cash smuggling, and tax evasion which he started in November 2017. >click to read< 11:02