Maine seafood firms goin’ fishin’ in European market

Jay Trenholm thinks the Swiss ought to be eager for scallops.

To pursue his point, the Rockland seafood dealer today is headed to Switzerland and, later, to Brussels, Belgium, in search of more foreign outlets for his product.

The owner of Oak Island Seafood Inc. is making his first foray to Europe in pursuit of a wider seafood market. But he won’t be alone.

Bill McGonagle of William Atwood Lobster Co. in Spruce Head is a veteran of the trips. Also making the rounds this year are TempGuard of Kennebunk, a packaging company; Sea Fresh USA Inc. of Portland, which sells “underutilized species,” such as squid, monkfish and shrimp; and Cozy Harbor Seafood of Portland, which ships frozen and fresh lobster, shrimp and groundfish overseas.

They are scheduled to meet with foreign seafood buyers and retailers to talk about their products this week and next.

The Maine Seafood Mission to Europe was organized by the Maine International Trade Center and U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service as a way of boosting sales for Maine seafood dealers.

Trenholm said he ships “a couple hundred thousand pounds” of scallops to Belgium and Amsterdam on a year-round basis, he said, and to Asia “off and on.”

“We’re looking for more outlets,” he said matter-of-factly Monday.

Trenholm is also trying to break into the frozen seafood market, he said. Oak Island is one of the largest scallop processors in Maine with 25 full-time workers. The company produces 3.5 million to 4 million pounds of fresh and frozen scallops annually.

The Maine International Trade Center connected the Maine dealers with contacts in Switzerland, Trenholm said.

Breaking into the Swiss market, which is one of the wealthiest and best “high-end” seafood markets in Europe, has been difficult, said Janine Bisaillon-Cary, vice president of the Maine International Trade Center.

In trying to establish European contacts, Bisaillon-Cary worked with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

She said some of the Maine dealers are new to the foreign market and this mission is an effort to help them become more aggressive in the market, she said.

For Trenholm, the trip could help boost foreign scallop sales, which were nonexistent from Maine in 1999, according to seafood sales data.

In recent years, U.S. seafood dealers have had to upgrade food processing procedures to sell their products at home, and in turn, that has brought them up to European standards, Bisaillon-Cary said.”So it’s opening up those markets more,” she said.

The push for foreign sales is, in part, due to the slowdown in U.S. seafood sales since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Bisaillon-Cary said. Put simply, not as many people are going out for meals. So finding additional markets is all the more important for Maine seafood producers.

After the Swiss meetings through Sunday, the group then moves on to Brussels, where the world’s largest seafood show takes place. The European Seafood Exposition draws more than 900 companies from more than 100 countries to the show, which provides an opportunity for companies to network with buyers, see new products and packaging and to size up the competition.

Bill McGonagle, chief operations officer for William Atwood Lobster Co., which exports lobsters, is a veteran of the show. Atwood said he would have a booth at the Brussels show to discuss logistics and provide photographs of the company’s products and pricing information.

He pointed out that getting the product overseas is 75 percent of the cost. Fresh and frozen seafood has to be properly packaged and shipped in a timely fashion.

According to figures provided by the Maine International Trade Center, Maine lobster exports to Europe have more than doubled from 1999 to 2001.

Last year, the state shipped $10,817,521 worth of lobsters to Europe compared with $5,389,902 in 1999.