HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Armory Seafood has been awarded $247,000 through the Governor’s Blue Catfish Processing, Flash freezing and Infrastructure grant.
The funds will be used to increase processing capacity at the business’ Hampton facility through the implementation of a modern quick freezer and essential packing equipment. Once the expansion is complete, the business will purchase more blue catfish from local watermen. The benefit is twofold: purchasing blue catfish stimulates the economy and removes the invasive species from Virginia waters.
“I congratulate Amory Seafood on this expansion, as this project helps to increase processing capacity of the invasive blue catfish, provide additional market opportunities for Virginia watermen, and boost the Commonwealth’s seafood industry’s economic impact which was over $1.1 billion in 2019,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin.
A fourth generation seafood company, Amory Seafood has been harvesting, processing, shipping and distributing seafood across the East Coast and the North-Central U.S. for over 100 years.