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February 23, 2016
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February 25, 2016
Louisiana’s annual fisheries summit, designed to acquaint commercial fishers and others in the seafood business with new technologies and marketing techniques, is scheduled to open Tuesday morning at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner.
Held for the past three years in Houma, the event had its venue changed as a way of encouraging more of the state’s fishermen to attend.
The summit will provide fishermen, dock owners, processors and other related businesses “an opportunity to network and obtain information on what’s happening in the commercial fishing and seafood industries.”
It is sponsored by Sea Grant, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the LSU AgCenter, as a voluntary education program.
“As in years past we will have regulatory, economic, legislative, and marketing updates,” said Julie Falgout, Sea Grant’s industry liaison. “There will also be a variety trade show vendors and demonstrations such as refrigeration repair, crab shedding, value added products, Coast Guard safety, quality handling, chef demos and a whole lot more.”
The summit, which is free to attend, will feature an open trade show and ongoing presentations and demonstrations throughout the day designed to allow attendees to interact directly with vendors, presenters, and demonstrators.
Among the tools fishermen will work with is the Seafood Quality Training Lab, a mobile trailer developed by the Louisiana Fisheries Forward program, designed to show commercial fishermen and dock owners the latest in onboard seafood refrigeration and cold chain management. The Lab is equipped with a pre-chilling system, which rapidly takes the heat out of just-caught seafood; and a brine freezer and plate freezer, which drops seafood temperatures to below 32 degrees in a flash. A shrimp splitter and de-veiner, as well as a vacuum packing machine, demonstrate new ways to process and package seafood easily.
“This trailer has everything on it to teach commercial fishermen and those in the seafood industry how to properly use this type of equipment and produce a quality frozen seafood product,” said Sea Grant’s Thomas Hymel. “The objective of the lab, as well as the entire LFF program, is to provide fishermen with the knowledge they need in order to produce the highest quality seafood product so they can capture the highest price possible.”
Summit attendees will be able to see the equipment ‘in action’ on the trailer, and receive information on upgrading equipment on fishing vessels and docks. The demonstration will include best handling practices for getting – and keeping – fresh seafood cold. Participants will also learn how to properly use a refractometer to test salt concentrations in brine freezers and other related topics.
Coast Guard Fishing Vessel Safety Specialists will be on hand for the duration of the Summit with a VHF/DSC radio demo unit. The demo unit set up will show fishermen how to take advantage of this simple and effective lifesaving technology.
U.S. Coast Guard Fishing Vessel Safety Specialists will be on hand for the duration of the Summit with a VHF/DSC radio demo unit. The demo unit set up will show fishermen how to take advantage of this simple and effective lifesaving technology.
The Coast Guard Safety Specialists will also give a presentation on their safety program which has had recent changes to commercial fishing vessel safety regulations involving requirements for inflatable life rafts for certain vessels.
The organization’s damage control simulator will be available for fishers to try their hand at emergency repairs, as well as a live flare demonstration and inflatable life raft demonstration. The Law Enforcement and Search and Rescue crew from Station New Orleans will be on hand with their state-of-the-art response boat and will answer questions.
Fishermen can register online at lafisheriesforward.org/summit/summit-vendor-registration/ or contact Sea Grant’s Katie Lea for details at klea@lsu.edu or 225-578-6445. •
