Maryland Seafood Update

 

It has been a very slow summer for seafood out of the bay.  With
water temperatures over 80 degrees the catch has been difficult to
come by.  

Striped Bass/Rockfish - Watermen using pound nets are reporting that their nets
have gone mostly empty so far this year, but they are hopeful that
this will turn around soon.  Hook & liners have also had very
little luck.  The positive of this is that this will reserve more
quota for the fall season.

Blue Crab - Crabbing is SLOW right now.   Watermen are reporting an abundance
of juvenile crabs, with adult males being scarce and on the move
making them difficult to find.  The female catch is down compared
to years past, however, most watermen feel that we are going to
have a great fall with all of these juveniles.

We are looking at doing a boat trip out of Solomon's Island the
first week of September.  Which day works best for you?


Below is a list of promotions that we are planning for the upcoming
months.  Please take a look and sign up for one (or all) of them. 
We would greatly appreciate it!!  Flyers for these promotions are attached.

 

Oyster Recipe - Just submit an oyster recipe to us (seafood
marketing department) before August 31st and you are entered into
the contest.  If you are chosen as one of the finalists you will be
called down to the oyster festival in southern Maryland to prepare
the recipe.  The winner gets $1000.

Maryland Seafood Festival - We will have a demo tent at the
Maryland Seafood Festival in Sandy Point (Annapolis, MD) this year.
The festival draws 5,000-10,000 people per year that are local
seafood fans.   During the demo you will show the crowd how to make
a MD seafood dish.  At the end of the demo you hand it out to the
crowd to taste.  There are slots available on both Saturday (Sept
8th) and Sunday (Sept 9th).

The Dine Out -  The Dine Out is very simple.    During the October
6th-13th you feature some (1 or more) Maryland seafood dishes on
the menu.  You set the price for these items at whatever point you
need to.  For each MD seafood dish sold during the week $1 is
donated to the oyster recovery partnership for their work in the
bay.  Last year we had over 200 restaurants participating, raised
over $25,000, and put more than 3 million oysters into the bay!

Kick off event - We are holding this at the National Aquarium in
Baltimore on October 3rd from 5-9pm.  Guests will buy tickets for
$75.  They will get to walk around the aquarium and sample food
from participating restaurants and drink beer from Flying Dog
Brewery.   There will be approximately 350 people there not
including press.

 

 

 

Steve Vilnit
Fisheries Marketing Director
MD DNR Fisheries Service
580 Taylor Avenue Floor B-2
Annapolis, MD 21401
(410)279-7951 Cell Phone

(410)260-8279 Fax Number
Twitter @stevevilnit
 
"Without promotion, something terrible happens ... Nothing!" -- P.T. Barnum

Chefs,

     We are now registering restaurants for our   

second annual From the Bay, For the Bay Dine 

Out!  For a week in October, participating          

restaurants from Philadelphia to Northern         

Virginia will be featuring fresh, locally caught 

Maryland Seafood for their guests. This will be an 

excellent way to support our local watermen, 

while enjoying the best seafood the region has to 

offer.

October is an outstanding month for seafood with 

many species available including striped bass, 

crabmeat, oysters, flounder, dogfish, bluefish,   

lobster, and scallops being in season and on   

menus throughout the region.

Each of the participating restaurants is donating 

$1.00 for every Maryland seafood dinner that is 

sold during this week to the Oyster Recovery   

Partnership in Annapolis, MD a non-profit          

organization that works to replenish the population of our native and treasured Chesapeake Bay 

oyster.