Crabbers consider creative ways to get sales

Selling from trucks eyed as a solution

by Larry Chowning – 

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, restaurants have shutdown throughout the country, leaving local watermen searching for other avenues to market their product.

Virginia Rep. Keith Hodges, R-98th District, said this week that he is talking with large grocery store chains in the area about carrying local, fresh seafood.

“With all the restaurants shutting down, our watermen need a place to sell their crabs and fish,” said Hodges. “I’ve been talking to representatives of Walmart, Food Lion and Kroger grocery stores and encouraging them to start buying local seafood from our watermen.”

As meat processing plants are shutting down due to the pandemic, Hodges said there well could be nationwide shortages soon of chicken and beef creating more demand for local seafood.

“I’m being told by the [chain store] representatives that lack of processing and packaging of fresh seafood from local watermen creates a problem for the big grocery stores,” he said.

“When they told me about those problems I suggested that they allow watermen to park their trucks in the stores’ parking lots…