April 10, 2024 — Last November, a group of New Bedford seafood companies crowded into a Zoom conference room hosted by Delaware’s bankruptcy court.
One by one, a trustee listed the assets up for sale: eight commercial fishing vessels and 48 federal fishing permits. It was a fire-sale liquidation for bankrupt Blue Harvest Fisheries — one of New England’s largest seafood companies — and the largest bundle of groundfish permits in recent history to come available on the market.
Bids, the trustee announced, would start at $10 million.
Cassie Canastra was first to act: “$11 million,” she said, without skipping a beat.
There was a brief pause, as a team representing O’Hara Corporation, part owner of New Bedford-based scallop giant Eastern Fisheries, huddled to discuss their options. They raised the bid to $11.25 million.
“$12 million,” Canastra responded, showing no sign of relenting.
For Blue Harvest, the bankruptcy auction marked the final chapter in its aggressive, eight-year expansion. For the New Bedford waterfront, it marked a changing of the guards — ushering in a new captain at the helm of the city’s fabled but struggling groundfish industry.