Water Street Seafood takes part in Seafood Expo North America

            The Florida Department of Agriculture is recognizing nine Florida seafood companies, including Water Street Seafood in Apalachicola and Woods Fishery in Port St. Joe, which took part in the Seafood Expo North America this month. 

This was the 25th year the Department of Agriculture has worked to bring Florida seafood suppliers to the event.

It’s the largest seafood show in North America, with more than 1,200 exhibitors and 20,000 buyers from 100 countries.

The nine Florida companies sold more than $42 million dollars worth of seafood products at the three-day Show.

That’s up from 25 million last year.

The companies showed some of the finest seafood Florida has to offer including snapper and grouper, king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, oysters, farm-raised clams, blue crab and wild-caught shrimp.

Chef Justin Timineri, Florida’s Culinary Ambassador, also cooked and offered samples to interested buyers.

Florida ranks among the top 10 states in the nation for fresh seafood production.

Florida fishermen harvest more than 80 million pounds of seafood annually including all of the nation’s spiny lobster, 97 percent of stone crabs and 84 percent of grouper, pompano, mullet, pink shrimp and Spanish mackerel.

More than 85 different varieties of seafood are harvested in Florida.

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