August 16, 2018 — The city’s Gloucester Fresh seafood marketing program got another boost this week when the Seaport Economic Council awarded it $110,000 to continue branding and promoting locally landed seafood to restaurants, retail seafood dealers and institutional purveyors.
The money, part of the $3.8 million dispersed in the latest round of Seaport Economic Council grant awards, will help the city enhance its website with more video and other technologies to attract what appears to be a growing international audience.
“We’re really excited about the attention the program is getting,” said Sal Di Stefano, the city’s economic development director and its point man on the Gloucester Fresh campaign. “This was just a concept a few years ago and now it’s an internationally recognized brand. We’re really proud of that.”
The grant also will allow Gloucester Fresh to embark in a new direction: to brand the Massachusetts lobster — thus removing it from the formidable shadow of Maine — and increase awareness of Gloucester as the Bay State’s premier lobster landing port.
In 2017, Massachusetts trailed only Maine in lobster landings, hauling in 16.57 million pounds with an estimated value of $81.54 million.
“We’re going to be working with the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association to promote and brand lobsters caught in our state’s waters,” Di Stefano said. “It’s time to bring attention to that. I know here in Gloucester, our mayor is tired of hearing about Maine lobsters. So, we want to get the word out there.”