Savvy seafood buyers can spot a poorly handled fish from a mile away. They see it in the texture, in the scuffed skin, in the uneven color…
And according to seasoned fishing captain Henrique Franco, those problems can emerge well before they arrive at the dock.
The Portuguese native—who has spent decades fishing the North Atlantic Ocean—firmly believes that quality seafood starts and ends with the crew handling it.
When all is said and done, Henrique builds his crews and processes around one priority above all: “You’ve got to take care of your fish.”
What experience looks like on deck
Seasoned deckhands protect texture and appearance through simple habits that inexperienced crews often treat as nice-to-haves. They keep the pace steady during the haul, protect the fish from bruising, and keep the hold organized lot by lot.
“When we do the hauling back, that’s the most dangerous moment,” says Henrique. “If you don’t communicate, somebody’s going to get hurt.”
The 53-year-old captain watches how people work together when the pace rises. He wants crew members who look out for each other and keep the workflow clean.
Experienced crews treat the haul like a drill they’ve run a thousand times. They read the deck the way a driver reads traffic, because bodies, gear, and fish all move at once. They keep space around tensioned lines, watch for swing, and call out problems before they stack up.
That teamwork shows up in the fish and turns a trip into seafood that buyers can plan around—and it all starts with the people who know the work.
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The quality chain from deck to hold
Once the fish hits the deck, it’s clear to Henrique whether or not a crew member understands the value of proper handling.
“Sometimes they don’t clean. They don’t wash the fish really well,” Henrique says. “Sometimes too much ice, sometimes not much ice at all.
“I’m very strict about that with my crew. We’ve got to take care of the fish, wash it well, and ice it right.”
Ice protects appearance and moisture during long hours at sea. If this crucial step is missed, the fish arrives looking tired, and buyers read it immediately.
“With blackbacks [winter flounder], for example, you’ve got to ice them belly up. If you put them the wrong way, they turn red and buyers don’t pay as much.
“If you don’t take care of the fish, you go to the dock and instead of a dollar fifty, you get eighty cents.”
Crew members who chase speed and forget consistency reveal their inexperience. Henrique puts it plainly: a crew can work hard and still lose value if they mishandle the fish. Handling mistakes might not seem dramatic on deck, but captains and companies pay for them at the dock and on the processing floor.
“You can lose a whole trip like that,” Henrique says.
A strict approach to handling doesn’t just matter to captains, it matters to buyers too. A stable crew produces a stable process, and a stable process produces predictable lots.
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Where quality starts to break down
Convinced by his years sharing boats with crews that can make or break a trip, Henrique manages the risk before the boat even leaves the pier.
“I have to know the person. It’s hard to give a job to someone I don’t know,” he says.
Henrique uses the waterfront the way other industries might use references. “I ask other captains about him. ‘Is he a good guy?’ I need information.”
In fact, the risk-averse captain would take a harder trip over a hire he’s not 100% sure of. “Sometimes I’d rather go one hand short until I know I’ve got a good guy,” he says.
Henrique makes that call for safety, but he also makes it for quality. “I do everything I can to avoid problems with the boat, with my crew, or with me,” he says.
But that doesn’t mean the next generation doesn’t get an opportunity on Henrique’s boat. It just means experience needs to be passed down into the right hands.
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Fishing crews that last
Experience doesn’t stay private on a good boat. It moves down the line through correction, repetition and clear expectations.
“I always have the experienced guys teach the new guys the right way,” Henrique says.
That transfer of knowledge matters in the commercial fishing industry. A crew learns fastest when a seasoned hand fixes a mistake in real time.
But for those lessons to stick, Henrique says a new fisherman has to have a passion for the trade.
“To be a fisherman, you’ve got to love it. If you do this just for the money, your life will be miserable.”
The crews that last build habits that long-term buyers can trust. They protect each other, protect the gear and protect the fish, because they know the cost when they don’t.
The buyer sees the crew in the product
The best crews consistently land fish that looks right, holds up well and arrives with fewer surprises. And that is largely determined by the experience on the boat.
Buyers doing their due diligence to secure a reliable seafood supply would do well to look past the label and start asking who worked the deck.
Henrique adds, “If your guys don’t have experience, your fish won’t be good quality.”
Ready to work with a fishing company that knows its boats and their crews like family? Drop us a line to talk through Canastra Fishing Company’s handling standards and what real consistency looks like from boat to dock.
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