BUCKSPORT — If all goes according to plan, there soon will be a new lobster-processing facility just east of the Penobscot River.
In July, the city council voted unanimously to dedicate a plot of land in its industrial park to Central Maine Cold Storage. The company expects to break ground on a seafood processing facility sometime in August, according to Tony Kelley, a cold storage expert who is helping with the facility’s startup.
The facility will cook and freeze whole lobsters for large lobster pounds, using an innovative process that freezes the lobster quickly to maintain flavor and integrity. The initial plan is to construct a facility in the town’s industrial park that will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 million. The business plans to begin processing in September and employ ten people. In addition to lobster, it will freeze scallops, shrimp and other seafood, said Central Maine Cold Storage owner Brian McCarthy.
“We’re trying to provide whatever service these larger pounds might want,” McCarthy said
Under a tentative agreement with the town, if the new business pays taxes and employs ten people, it will gain the deed to the land in five years. The incentives and the business outreach were just as important as proximity to the lobstering community in McCarthy’s decision to locate in Bucksport. He sees potential for the seafood industry in Bucksport.
“We’re hoping it will attract other seafood businesses in the park,” McCarthy said.
The venture is an outgrowth of another food storage venture less than an hour south. McCarthy has been working on creating a line of dilly beans at Coastal Farms, a food processing facility that opened last year in Belfast. Kelley also worked with Coastal Farms on its freezing and storage facilities.
The project drew a lot of interest in the lobstering community among those looking to find a way to process Maine lobster in-state instead of in Canada, McCarthy said. It can help large lobster pounds hold lobster until the price is right, he said. He knows of no other business in Maine that flash-freezes on a large scale.
Flash-freezing whole lobster in a way that retains taste can be a profitable business model if done right, said Dr. Robert Bayer, executive director of the UMaine Lobster Institute. The technique is not new, but it’s been refined in recent years. Such a product can give diners the complete lobster experience, but it also cuts down on lobster mortality, Bayer said.
“It all gets there,” Bayer said. “You can ship tons of these to Asia or any place you want.”