In harbors and factories, news of the fraud spread fast.
“It’s a tremendous slap in the face,” said Ryan Bradley, the executive director of Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United.
“It’s totally unfortunate,” said David Gautier, who sells seafood from the Pass Christian Harbor.
But the Coast’s commercial fishermen and seafood processors were not surprised that Quality Poultry & Seafood pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiring with Mary Mahoney’s Old French House restaurant to pass off cheap, foreign fish as fresh Gulf catch.
Many had guessed Quality was next. The federal government did not name the business when Mary Mahoney’s pleaded guilty this summer. Court records unsealed Tuesday confirmed that Quality sold Mahoney’s the misbranded fish, and that both businesses profited by charging the same price they would for premium local seafood.
