Fishing industry feels effects of COVID-19. But boats are still bringing catch to Cortez
Karen Bell’s commercial fishermen looked to her when the coronavirus pandemic swept into Manatee County.
“Many of the fish houses called their boats in. I told mine to keep fishing,” Bell said this week. “Our boats have continued to work, and I have asked them to stagger their return times to avoid flooding the market.”
As a result, Bell has been able to continue retailing seafood at Star Fish Company and A. P. Bell Fish Company, and supplying local restaurants such as Tide Tables that prepare and sell to-go meals.
In addition, Bell has been able to continue supplying seafood to New York City, Atlanta, Mobile, Birmingham, Miami, and Canada.
“We are all working together to move product forward. I wouldn’t say that business is good, but we are better off than what farmers are dealing with,” she said.
For the most part, Bell lost her restaurant base when Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order closing dining rooms.
Using the A.P. Bell Facebook page, she reached out to Bradenton area consumers letting them know the availability and price of Gulf pink shrimp, American red snapper, grouper, and more.
“The public has been really responsive,” she said. “The lower price fish like mackerel and mullet are selling well. Fish prices are down because the supply is up.”
Lost in the pandemic was the news that the stone crab harvest, winding down to its end on May 15, rebounded from last year’s miserable red tide season.
Danny Barrett has worked at A.P. Bell Fish Company for 26 years, and paused after delivering a pallet of iced seafood to a loading dock. He talked about how grateful he is to have a job during the pandemic and economic downturn. And he talked about the stone crab season.
“Our boats didn’t have to go out four hours to find stone crab, like they did last season, and then four hours back,” Barrett said, adding that local crabbers were finding them a lot closer to Cortez this season.
“I was cooking 1,600 pounds of stone crab a day, and now I am cooking 30 to 40 pounds a day,” he said of the season.
One reason that fewer stone crabs have been coming across local docks recently is that crabbers in the Florida Keys have been having such a good season, helping drive down prices, Bell said.
Greg Surace was working the front counter at Star Fish Company on Thursday, where grouper, tuna, snapper, swordfish, stone crab, and more awaited customers.
“We had a busy Easter. You can’t beat fresh. That’s the only thing saving us right now,” Surace said.
The theme of Manatee Farm City Week in 2019 was “Fresh Catch,” focusing attention on the $11 million local commercial fishing industry.
As one of leaders of the seafood industry, Bell received the 2019 Manatee County Agriculturist of the Year Award.
The award recognized Bell’s lifelong contribution of community service that has protected coastal and native habitat and for spearheading much of historical preservation efforts in Cortez.
The award also acknowledged Bell’s leadership in helping commercial fishing diversify and survive the ban on gill nets used to harvest a mainstay of the industry, the striped mullet.
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 3:09 PM.
