SEAFOOD.COM NEWS (Seafoodnews.com) — August 7, 2013 — Maryland is having success with its state level marketing program for blue crab and oysters, according to Steve Vilnit, Director of Fisheries Marketing for the Dept. of Natural Resources.
Vilnit joined the program in 2010, after 13 years as a tuna wholesaler.
In 2012, they launched the Maryland True Blue program to encourage Delmarva-region restaurants to source their crab products straight from Maryland’s domestic industry. The DNR gives participating restaurants signage and marketing materials to use at their restaurant such as menu indicators that tells customers the blue crab they are ordering is straight out of a Maryland-based fishery.
"Customers can look at a menu and know right away that they're getting what they think they're getting," said Vilnit.
Since its launch the True Blue program has more than quadrupled its participation with participating restaurants increasing from 26 establishments to 150 Vilnit said. Moreover, the state’s crab meat processors have reported a 17 percent increase in domestic pounds sold since True Blue was started Vilnit added.
And following True Blue’s success, Vilnit and the DNR — realizing the opportunity foodservice professionals have to educate their diners about Maryland’s domestically harvested seafood industry–—started a series of “Chef’s Trips” out on the Chesapeake Bay.
Vilnit (far right) on board the Red Osprey with the chefs from Baltimore's 13.5% Wine Bar
Source: Michael Ramsingh – Seafood.com News
“Too often in today’s foodservice industry there is a disconnect between the consumers and the producers. This is especially true when it comes to seafood,” said Vilnit. “The Maryland Seafood Marketing Program is working to reestablish the connections to the local waterways by allowing chefs to see exactly where their products come from and the people that harvest it.”
For each Chef’s Trip Vilnit pairs up with local boat captains and brings a team of chefs from restaurants as far away as Philadelphia to as regional as Baltimore to get a hands-on education about Maryland’s domestic fisheries.
On a late-July trip, six chefs from Baltimore’s 13.5% Wine Bar motored off on the fishing vessel Red Osprey with Simon Dean. The day-long cruise on the Patuxent River took the chefs around the regions’ wild oyster dredging and blue crab trot lining fisheries, getting the opportunity to taste fresh oysters pulled from the water and manning a crab net with a local waterman
Chefs fish for crab alongside Maryland fishermen Tommy Zinn
Souce: Michael Ramsingh – Seafood.com News
“As the Chef, I am constantly in contact with local purveyors, fishers, farmers,” said Kate Ward Executive Chef at 13.5% Wine Bar. “I have the opportunity to see and learn a lot about the products I am bringing in…it is our job in the industry to expose people to the amazing products we have right here, so readily available.”
Back on the water, the day concluded with a tour of Tal Petty’s Hollywood Oyster Company, an oyster aquaculture operation located right on the Patuxent. There the chefs sampled Petty’s offerings and discussed the science behind his operations and Maryland’s newfound interest in promoting the state’s slowly emerging oyster aquaculture industry.
Hollywood Oyster's Tal Petty dicusses his oyster aquaculture operations
Source: Michael Ramsingh – Seafood.com News
In fact, Maryland has been proactive in restoring the Chesapeake’s depleted oyster grounds by obtaining a series of state and federal grants to rebuild the Watershed through a number of oyster recovery efforts.
The Oyster Recovery Partnership has been at the forefront of Maryland’s campaign to restore the state’s once thriving oyster beds according to the program’s director Stephan Abel. Via a collaboration to plant disease-free oysters the partnership has planted 4 billion oysters on 1,500 acres of oyster reefs.
Additionally, the ORP started the Shell Recycling Alliance to remedy the shell shortage that has been plaguing the industry.
“Shell right now is the single limiting factor in everything we do,” Abel said.
The Alliance has set up a network of over 200 partnered restaurants and also works within local consumers to retrieve oyster shells; contributors are able donate their shells and receive a tax credit from the state.
According to the ORP reviving Maryland’s oyster fisheries will not only benefit local seafood consumers but provides the Chesapeake with a significantly cheaper alternative to cleansing the environment versus pricey desalination and water treatment plants.
Meanwhile Vilnit and Abel agreed that Maryland’s seafood industry benefits full circle from a targeted marketing standpoint. From promoting the industry’s blue crab and rebounding oyster populations, while educating local foodservice professionals to broaden consumer’s seafood interest; expectations are abound that more Maryland seafood will be served at Delmarva dinner tables and beyond.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission