September 13, 2023 — Blue Harvest Fisheries, a private equity-backed venture that launched in 2015 at New Bedford and grew to become the largest groundfish permit owner on the East Coast, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The move comes after operations abruptly ended Sept. 1 at the company’s New Bedford plant. Publicly the company has been silent but fishermen who worked for it as independent contractors were told the company would stop fishing.
The Sept. 8 filings in federal court in Delaware show private equity firm Bregal Partners, with ties to the wealthy Brenninkmeijer family of Dutch industrialists, as owning 89.5 percent of the parent company that owns Blue Harvest vessels, permits and other assets, the New Bedford Light reported Sept. 11.