H2O Harvest

No matter what the crop or when the harvest, farmers are always looking for ways to increase the yield and control the cost. After all higher production costs for them can mean higher costs for consumers at the grocery store. At one family owned commercial fishing operation in New Jersey, they’re working hard to change with the times and fight off foreign competition.
    
Monkfish and Bluefish are the catches of the day on this June morning off the coast of New Jersey. This activity is taking place at the historic dock known as Viking Village.  The seaport town of Barnegat Light is one of the largest suppliers of sea food on the Eastern Seaboard.  Nearly five million pounds are packed out over the commercial dock each year
    
John Larson, otherwise known as Capt’ John, is a key player in New Jersey’s prosperous commercial fishing industry. He says, “Our seafood mainly goes from Boston, New Bedford, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and a lot of little spots in between.”
    
The rich Atlantic waters here produce an average of about 90-million metric tons of fish each year a harvest that’s worth 100-million dollars or more to the state’s economy.

The top species is sea scallops, which brings in more than 88 million dollars a year. At Viking Village, the yearly catch is more than half a million pounds. The boats are out for 8 to 10 days. Fishermen tows the ocean floor with a chain mesh that, after a period of time, is winched on board and the scallops removed from the shells.
    
Captain John’s part owner of the operation, and that’s not by accident. He was born here in 1933, when his dad was already a partner in the business. John says,  “When my father was a fisherman here they could go out and catch a fish called porgies. They got a nickel a pound for them. Now porgies are almost a dollar a pound.”

A group of Scandinavians who immigrated here in the 1920s originally called this “Independent Dock.” They came here to Barnegat Light because it reminded them so much of their homeland where they were also fishermen. Over the decades many types of seafood have been caught here from scallops to swordfish.  Today Viking Village boats are independently owned. But the fishermen use the dock for packing, marketing and selling their catch.                                                          
And since 1989 the person responsible for that, as well as day to day operations is Viking Village General Manager Ernie Panacek.  Ernie, who’s also “Capt’ John’s son-in-law, says he’s watched the dock grow from a handful of boats to a fleet of nearly 40 and at its busiest—some 350 employees.

Ernie says, “You need to be prepared in many, many different ways to handle big volumes of fish very quickly or handle small trips in a market that’s very demanding.”   

Those are things commercial fisherman Kevin Wark says are a big help, “They do a real nice job with it. They’re capable of marketing the fish in other areas that we would just basically have one good customer and hope that he would do the right thing for you.”                                         
To keep Viking Village competitive in a very competitive industry, Ernie recently oversaw a four million dollar renovation of the dock, including an improved refrigeration system, “If we don’t keep the fish properly chilled, you know, not only is it a health issue but it’s also, it’s a quality issue.” Ernie says his fishermen take pride in a quality catch and in being leaders in an effort to fish responsibly so that stocks are maintained and there’s the least impact on the environment.

In 2002, Ernie and his wife Kris Larson, who happens to be Capt John’s daughter, opened up a little restaurant called “Viking Fresh off the Hook”. Kris says, “We wanted to provide the public with what really is classified as fresh seafood. I mean those scallops come off the boat they’re still kickin.”

Kris and her crew cooked up two dishes. The first—skewers of grilled sea scallops with a teriyaki glaze and a Japanese cole slaw. The second dish—a seared tuna, which demands the highest-quality fish. Kris says, “We seared that just on the outside to maintain the raw, moist flavor on the inside—had a little Cajun spice on it to give it a little zip. It was served with a seaweed salad.”
                     
Of course, in this kitchen there’s a big advantage an ample supply of fresh fish is just steps away: the open sea, off the shore of the “Garden State.” 

Jersey Notes
New Jersey’s Coastal areas were also a major source of salt used in the preservation of food stuffs. Because of the abundance of lumber from New Jersey forests, ship building there became a major industry during the 19th century.