Advancing Scup Mince Processing to Expand Markets for a Sustainable U.S. Fishery

General Description

After experiencing a fishery collapse and subsequent rebuilding in the 1990s and early 2000s, the scup stock has maintained a record-high abundance for over a decade. Although scup are abundant, annual landings have only reached about 60% of the quota.

Due to yield and suitable fillet sizes, there is a demand gap for medium-sized scup, leading to high grading and increased economic discards within the fishery. Mechanically deboning scup into mince for use in value-added products offers a potential solution to utilize more of the scup population throughout the year. In 2024, Dr. Chong Lee from the University of Rhode Island conducted several trials of scup mince processing to demonstrate the feasibility of using a Baader deboning machine to produce mince.

This project will build on previous work to refine scup mince production and optimize the stability of frozen scup mince over time. We will work with local restaurant and seafood businesses to develop value-added products from the scup mince to increase the marketability of scup and to help promote this local, sustainable resource.

Project Team

Collaborators:

  • Chong Lee, University of Rhode Island

  • Jason Jarvis, Quonochontaug Fish Company (Quonnie Fish Co.)

Restaurant and Seafood Business Partners:

  • Coming soon

CFRF:


Project Objectives

  1. Improve scup mince production utilizing medium-sized scup

  2. Evaluate freezing techniques and frozen storage stability of mince

  3. Develop and grow a market for scup mince and value-added projects

  4. Host a public scup product tasting event with Eating with the Ecosystem

This project is supported by:

The Seafood Industry Research Fund (SIRF)