. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. A crabber on an early morning run offHarkers Island. Run those figures through a calcula- tor, and you'll find the meat itself costs $2 to $3 a pound. Add meat and labor costs together, and the sum approaches $6. Last summer, wholesale prices dropped to less than $6 per pound, Stephenson says. That means proces- sors in many cases were making pennies a pound, and that kind of measly profit isn't enough to keep a crab processor cooking. "Several major producers in Virginia went out of business last sum
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. A crabber on an early morning run offHarkers Island. Run those figures through a calcula- tor, and you'll find the meat itself costs $2 to $3 a pound. Add meat and labor costs together, and the sum approaches $6. Last summer, wholesale prices dropped to less than $6 per pound, Stephenson says. That means proces- sors in many cases were making pennies a pound, and that kind of measly profit isn't enough to keep a crab processor cooking. "Several major producers in Virginia went out of business last summer," Stephenson says. "I person- ally think if things don't change, operators in this state will be forced out too. And I don't like to see anybody go ; Overproduction isn't the only problem facing the industry. processors are competing against imported and imitation crab meat products, and they are battling regula- tory restrictions and labor shortages. So what's needed to revive the crab processing industry? A healthy dose of change. "We need new ways to handle the crab, new processing techniques, new packaging and new health regulations that will allow the industry to grow," Stephenson says. David Green, Sea Grant's seafood industry specialist, agrees. Green has been working with crab processors to introduce new technology. With the help of a grant from the National Coastal Resources Research and Development Institute, Green is introducing the industry to cryogenic freezing. This innovative process uses liquid carbon dioxide or liquid nitrogen to Because the highly perishable blue crab is marketed as fully cooked and ready-to-eat. Shellfish Sanitation has stringent regulations and guidelines for processing the crustaceans. flash freeze a product, in this case crabs, in a matter of seconds. Conven- tional freezing does not work well for blue crab meat because it leaves the meat dry and stringy. Working with CryoTech Industries Inc. in Flor
Size: 2006px × 1246px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
