Renovation of Portland (ME) Fish Exchange underway
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [MPBM] By Jennifer Mitchell - October 13, 2014
Portland, Maine, Renovation work on the Portland Fish Exchange began this week. The 30-year-old groundfish auction house is undergoing a series of improvements, thanks to a $1 million bond, which was part of last year's $100 million, voter-approved, state bond package.
"This has been a really great - a good Godsend from the state - to provide us with the capital to redo our roof, which is almost twenty years old," says General Manager Bert Jongerden.
Jongerden says that 25 years ago, when the fish exchange was moving 30 million pounds of fish per year, the auction house could have paid for renovations up front. But since the bottom fell out of the Gulf of Maine groundfish industry 10 years ago, the business is only handling about 5 million pounds of fish per year, which he says is enough to stay afloat, but with little left over.
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