Abundant Seafood | Local Business Spotlight

Posted By Kim Conger @ May 17th 2019 6:30am In: Local News

Fresh Fish Pick Up

Some of my favorite emails each month are from Abundant Seafood - as a part of their Community Supported Fishery (CSF) I get the heads up that the crew is heading back from a fishing trip, the species of catch, and when I can pick them up. The day of pick up, I head out to the dock with my cooler and get the fresh fish right off the boat. The only way I could get them any fresher would be to catch them myself!

This was Thursday's email: The boat will be in tonight so we are planning a fish pick up this weekend! Pick up will be this weekend . . . We will have mahi mahi, swordfish, flounder, vermilion snapper, jack, smoked fish, and miscellaneous other species. We will also have red shrimp available at an extra cost.

Get to Know Mark, Kerry and Amy Marie

Abundant Seafood is operated by Mark and Kerry Marhefka. These two are THE BEST! Mark began fishing for a living the day after he graduated from high school in 1979, and has spent years fishing the waters of the southeast from North Carolina to Florida. Kerry grew up in Maine with fishing in her blood and became a fishing biologist for the Federal Government primarily working on marine protected areas (MPAs) off the southeast US coast. Both Mark and Kerry have long history of working closely with the scientists and the government to improve the health of the resource and the viability of the fishing industry.

Amy Marie is a 39 foot fiberglass boat outfitted with 4 electric bandit reels. Captain Mark and his crew head out twice a month for three to seven days. The typical trip is about 50-60 miles offshore anywhere off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

By cutting out the middleman and selling their catch directly to local restaurants, Sustainable Seafood was able to catch less fish and keep the fish in the local food chain with only a few miles between the boat and the plate. In 2010 they expanded by starting one of the first Community Supported Fishery programs in the country.

What is a Community Supported Fishery (CSF)?

The idea is that communities are brought closer by sharing the risks and rewards of (in this case) fishing. The fisherman gets the assurance of having a market for his fish thereby easing financial uncertainty and allowing a greater investment in the future of the boat. The consumer gets the highest quality product, the assurance that the product is local and a great price.

Abundant Seafood's Fresh Catch

Captain Mark primarily fishes for species on the snapper grouper complex (this diverse group of reef fishes encompasses 72 species of fish including many species of snappers, groupers, grunts, jacks and sea bass) he also has permits to catch shark, mahi mahi (dolphin), and king mackerel but those species are caught incidentally to his snapper grouper catch.

The species you can expect most commonly in your CSF share are: Vermillion Snapper, Black Sea Bass, Triggerfish, Pink Snapper, Amberjack

The species that you will find on occasion in your CSF share are: Gag Grouper, Snowy Grouper, Red Grouper, Scamp Grouper, Mahi Mahi,
White Grunt, Little Tunny, Jolthead Porgy