Dockside Fish Processing

Red snapper packed for shipping

We stopped on the boardwalk near to watch red snapper and grouper advancing on a conveyor belt from a fishing boat to a small packing operation on the shore. First, the fish were sorted and tagged, then moved to large cardboard boxes, similar in size to ones that would hold a major appliance, packed with ice.



Fish are packed between layers of ice

The fish were carefully placed in a tidy layer, followed by a layer of crushed ice, 
such that many layers of fish could be packed neatly in each box. Some containers were heavy plastic and packed the same way.

Several refrigerated trucks were loaded as various officials watched and signed paperwork. Fish manifests? I couldn't help thinking of scenes from various mafia movies, the kind with grappling hooks and body parts packed in ice.



Fresh frozen fish