Seafood Information
Virginia Seafood
Virginia has a thriving seafood industry and is consistanly among the top 5 seafood producing states in the USA. Virginia Seafood is harvested from the Chesapeake Bay, coastal bays and Atlantic ocean, then landed at a number of Virginia ports.
Virginia has a variety of local seafood available including flounder, rockfish, sea bass, gray trout, drumfish, spot, croaker, sharks, rays, eels, crabs, oysters, clams, scallops, whelk and mussels.
Virginia Fish
Summer Flounder
Flounder are the most popular Virginia fish among seafood lovers. They are typically 2-8 lbs with mild tasting white flesh. Flounder are served in a variety of ways, the most common being filleted and fried or broiled. Virginia flounder are sometimes stuffed with local crab meat and then baked.
Striped Bass or "Rockfish"
Striped Bass, known in Virginia as rockfish are a heavy bodied saltwater fish. They have a disctintive flavor and firm flaky meat. Rockfish are available wild caught or farm raised. They are delicious fried, grilled or broiled. Rockfish are commonly a few lbs although 50 lb fish are sometimes caught.
Bluefin Tuna
For the most part bluefin tuna are a sport fish in Virginia. They are plentiful from June thru late summer and Virginia charter boats are ready to provide excellent fishing from ports such as Chincoteague Island and Wachapreague
Yellowfin Tuna
Virginia has excellent catches of yellowfin tuna from late spring thru late fall. In addition to catching fresh tuna on a charter boat or private boat, seafood lovers will find fresh yellowfin tuna in local restaurants and seafood markets in season.
Gray Trout
Virginia is home to gray trout or weakfish. These fish historically have wild population fluctuations. Virginia anglers and seafood lovers enjoyed enormous numbers of fish thru the 1970's and 80's. The fishes numbers fell drastically after and these fish are less common today.
Gray trout and their close cousins the speckled trout are both attractive fish with silvery sides. The fillets are soft and flavorful. These fish can be as small as 12 inches but can also reach weights of 10 lbs or more.
Virginia Shellfish
Oysters
Virginia is fortunate to have a rich history of oyster harvesting. The Chesapeake Bay once held enormous amounts of oysters and some oyster harvesting still occurs there. The James river and other Virginia areas yield high quality oysters.
The seaside areas of Virginia also produce some of the highest quality oysters on the USA east coast. Chincoteague Island is known for it's excellent salty oysters and other seafood.
Clams
Virginia seafood harvesters bring several types of clams to port. Among these are hard clams, quahog clams and surf clams.
Crabs
The bulk of Virginia blue crabs are harvested from the Chesapeake Bay, an estuary famous for the crustacean. Virginia commercial fishermen harvest top quality blue crabs using baited pots and trotlines. Soft shelled crabs are another Virginia delicacy. These crabs are harvested as "peeler crabs" and kept in tanks until they shed their hard shell.
After shedding the crabs are allowed to recover a few hours before packing and rushing the live product to market. After cleaning, the crabs are cooked whole while still soft. Soft crabs have a unique taste and are highly sought after by seafood enthusiasts. They can be served in a number of ways but the most popular meal is simply breaded and fried soft crabs served on a sandwich bun.
A lesser known crab is the red crab. These large crabs live along a very narrow band of deep ocean waters along the American coastline. A limited number of vessels fish off the coast and land red crabs in Hampton Roads Virginia. Seafood enthusiasts sometimes find red crabs available in local seafood markets or restaurants.
Virginia Seafood Cuisine
Virginia is known for its blue crabs. The crabs are eaten steamed in the shell or served as crabcakes and other dishes. Soft shelled blue crabs are fried or broiled and are a local delicacy when available.
Clams are eaten raw, steamed or in dishes such as chowders. Clam chowder is a rich soup using clams, vegetables and either a tomato based or dairy based broth. Another favorite Virginia clam dish is clam fritters.
Virginia aquaculture operations grow hard clams from seed up to 1-2" which are prized for steaming or eaten raw.
Virginia is one of the leading U.S. states for landings of sea scallops. These open ocean shellfish are arguably among the best tasting of all seafood. Boats fishing far from shore trawl or dredge areas of the ocean floor, catching scallops and shucking the product at sea. The scallops are then rushed to market, providing a fresh, tender, all white product.
American lobsters are caught off the coast of Virginia and are sometimes sold locally. Restaurants serve fresh Virginia lobsters prepared in a number of ways.
Mahi-mahi or dolphinfish is a brightly colored pelagic fish found in the open ocean of the Virginia coast. Mahi mahi is a white fish with a distinctive flavor. The meat is high in Omega 3 oil. Fresh caught mahi mahi is often served grilled or broiled in Virginia restaurants.
Oysters are served raw or steamed in the shell. Virginia oysters are widely recognized as being among the best oysters on the USA east coast.
Virginia Seafood Ports
Newport News Seafood Industrial Park is among the top ports in the Virginia. The facility is one of the busiest small ports on the East Coast, doing an astonishing amount of business. Most of the boats fish under limited entry scallop permits or harvest finfish, primarily summer flounder.
Several seafood packers and three ice houses support the fishing community there. Among them are Chesapeake Bay Packing, Inc., Old Point Packing Inc., Casey's Seafood Inc. B&C Seafood Inc. and Peabody LLC.
According to sources, the port was 7th in the nation in total value of seafood for 2005, mostly due to the catches of scallops. The USA east coast scallop fishery shares the lead with the Northeast lobster fishery for the region's most seafood valuable resource.
More on Virginia Seafood
Newport News Commercial Fishing Industrial Park