The Belford SeaFood Co-Operative

admin | February 2, 2014 | Uncategorized | No Comments

The Port of Belford is located in the shelter of Sandy Hook on the most northern section of the New Jersey coast. With ready highway access, ocean-fresh seafood harvested by the fishermen based in Belford can be in New York's Fulton market within an hour or to any of tens of millions of consumers in the same day it was caught. Many of the vessels berthed in Belford are owned by members of the Belford Fishermen's Cooperative, one of the most active fishermen's cooperatives on the Atlantic Coast. The fleet is composed of otter trawlers, gill netters, lobster boats and purse seiners. Many of the fishermen there rely on the "traditional" Mid-Atlantic mixed trawl fishery, having adjusted their fishing - and marketing - efforts to be in tune with the annual migrations of the silver and red hake, fluke, flounder, seabass and porgies that make up a large part of their harvest. (Michael J. Treola) — The Port of Belford is located in the shelter of Sandy Hook on the most northern section of the New Jersey coast. With ready highway access, ocean-fresh seafood harvested by the fishermen based in Belford can be in New York’s Fulton market within an hour or to any of tens of millions of consumers in the same day it was caught. Many of the vessels berthed in Belford are owned by members of the Belford Fishermen’s Cooperative, one of the most active fishermen’s cooperatives on the Atlantic Coast. The fleet is composed of otter trawlers, gill netters, lobster boats and purse seiners. Many of the fishermen there rely on the “traditional” Mid-Atlantic mixed trawl fishery, having adjusted their fishing – and marketing – efforts to be in tune with the annual migrations of the silver and red hake, fluke, flounder, seabass and porgies that make up a large part of their harvest. (Michael J. Treola)

The Belford Seafood Co-Operative is a commercial fishing fleet based out of Belford New Jersey and a stones throw from my home. Generally speaking it’s rarely a blip on anyone’s radar and easily missed if you were driving by. I’d even wager that most people don’t even know where this place is or that it even exists. As was most things in the area the boats and buildings surrounding the fleet took a massive hit during Super Storm Sandy and in many cases they are still recovering their facilities there so it’s nice to see them return their operations somewhat back to normal.

One of the reasons this place holds a special place in my heart is because this was one (of many) places that my father introduced me to fishing. It’s along these very docks that he and I would watch the boats and fish along the bulkheads. I am pretty sure it’s where I remember catching my first fish here, a small bluefish called a “Snapper”, and there were many other opportunities to catch here farther along in my life as well. Just like there are generations of fisherman who call this home I do to and hope this place never goes away.