Seafood industry reeling in wake of terror attacks

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island’s fishermen and seafood distributors have lost an estimated $30 million since Sept. 11, and industry sources say sales continue to suffer since terrorist attacks on America.

Much of the local catch sat rotting in grounded airplanes after the Sept. 11 attacks, and new restrictions on air freight have made it harder for distributors to ship their seafood since then.

Ralph Boragine, director of the Rhode Island Seafood Council, an industry trade group, said sales for the month after the terrorist attacks fell by 50 percent. He said every sector of the industry has felt the crunch, from self-employed lobstermen to international exporters and wholesalers.

Rhode Island’s seafood industry is experiencing troubles similar to those that have hit Maine, the nation’s leading lobster producer.

Maine lobstermen spent the early summer worrying about a lack of the shellfish. Then the terrorist attacks disrupted shipments and apparently sapped people’s appetite for what is considered a luxury food. Since then, lobstermen in Maine have been worrying about low prices.

In Rhode Island, a Narragansett wholesaler lost a giant bluefin tuna – worth around $6,000 – when United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the World Trade Center, The Providence Journal reported Friday.

“It’s only a tuna,” said Jim Fox of Seafresh USA in Galilee, who was shipping the fish to Los Angeles aboard the doomed flight.

Much of the local catch travels through Fulton Fish Market, located just blocks from the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.

The market closed immediately after the attacks. It relocated a short time later to a parking lot in the Bronx, but it did not fully reopen in its regular location for four weeks.

“Initially, we lost all business to New York City,” said Bob Smith of the Rhode Island Clam Co. in Tiverton. His shipment of mussels and clams was grounded at Boston’s Logan Airport on the day of the attacks. “We were out of air travel completely for one solid week.”

Sales of seafood in New York have also plummeted since Sept. 11. Even restaurants in Europe and Japan have seen seafood sales falter.

Making matters worse, dealers are now paying fishermen less for their catch. At one Narragansett market, lobsters were selling for $3.99 a pound this week, compared to $9.99 at the end of the summer.

“Unfortunately, if there is no business and they keep catching them, it drives the price right down,” said Jack O’Donnell, manager of Aquidneck Lobster Co. in Newport

The period between summer and the holidays is typically slow for the seafood industry, but this year has been one of the worst slumps in recent memory, Boragine said.

“The industry is shut down tighter than a drum,” he said.