With less quantity, Portland Fish Exchange keeps focus on quality

PORTLAND, Maine — On a recent Monday morning just after 10 a.m., the Portland Fish Exchange buzzed quietly to life. Inside the 22,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse on Commercial Street, workers sorted and graded the day’s catch: pollock, hake, cod, dab, grey sole, monkfish, and other groundfish unloaded from three fishing boats. But despite its role as a vital hub for Maine’s seafood industry, the exchange operates on a fraction of the volume it once handled.

The exchange, opened in 1986 as America’s first all-display fresh seafood auction, now processes roughly 70,000 pounds of seafood per week during summer months and about 50,000 pounds in winter. In its heyday during the 1980s and 1990s, those numbers reached up to 300,000 pounds weekly, according to longtime seafood grader Emma Balboni, who inspects each lot before auctions begin.

Today's auctions are conducted remotely via computer, with most buyers bidding from Portland or across the Northeast. Numbered ping pong paddles used by past bidders hang on the auction room wall as remnants of those busier times.

“The old-timers will tell you there was 300,000 pounds of fish in here, and it was stocked up to the ceilings,” Balboni said while examining a batch of groundfish. “This is a very small auction compared to what they were doing in the ’80s and ’90s.”

Financial struggles have plagued the nonprofit exchange for decades. In 2020, it required a bailout from the city-owned Portland Fish Pier Authority to remain operational. Around the same time, it faced closure during the pandemic’s peak.

Despite these challenges, there are signs of cautious recovery. General Manager Robert Vanmeter projects that the exchange will handle approximately 2 million pounds of seafood in the current fiscal year, up slightly from 1.9 million last year and 1.8 million the year before.

“We’ve been pretty steadily getting slightly more volume the past few years,” said auctioneer’s assistant James Needelman. “I think we’re just slowly building back from how far back we were set.”

One factor limiting growth continues to frustrate exchange leaders: Maine’s lobster bycatch regulations. Groundfishermen aboard larger vessels often catch lobsters while dragging nets along the seafloor, but state law prohibits landing lobster without a special license. As a result, many opt to sell their catches at auctions in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where such landings are permitted.

“In a good year, a bycatch of lobster can generate six figures for these guys,” Vanmeter explained. He has repeatedly advocated for regulatory changes allowing groundfishermen to land lobster at the Portland exchange, but says efforts have stalled.

“The city of Portland has subsidized us for at least the past 10 years. Without more fish, we’ll be continuing to count on the city to keep us afloat.”

Attempts to reach representatives from the Maine Lobstermen’s Association for comment went unanswered.

Boat captain and seller Devyn Campbell believes misconceptions contribute to larger vessels bypassing Portland. While lobster restrictions play a role, Campbell notes that fuel costs and facility limitations also influence buyer decisions.

Regardless, lobsters remain central to conversations about the exchange’s viability. Nick Alfiero, co-owner of Harbor Fish Market and former board member, suggests a workaround: permitting groundfishermen to crate their lobster bycatch for out-of-state shipment.

“But there are people in the state who won’t want to see that law changed.”

Among exchange buyers is Steve Newman, a national account manager for Browne Trading Company. Three years ago, he attended his first Portland auction expecting the lively energy he remembered from childhood livestock auctions in Florida. Instead, he found himself disappointed by the subdued atmosphere.

“That was what I was expecting, and it certainly wasn’t.”

However, Newman quickly became a regular customer, drawn by consistently high-quality offerings. On this particular Monday, he purchased 300 pounds of hake destined for Le Bernardin, the renowned three-Michelin-star restaurant in Manhattan.

“Portland (Fish Exchange) has a great reputation because they handle nothing but what I would call short-trip or day-boat fishery,” Alfiero said. “We are a higher-quality auction, and everybody knows that.”

Vanmeter agrees: “That’s why we generally get more money for our fish, and we have a lot of happy return customers.”

Much of that quality assurance rests with Balboni, who took over as chief seafood grader in August 2026 after succeeding veteran grader Sandy MacIver. A native of southeastern Massachusetts with a marine science degree from Unity College and experience running a lobster pound in Boothbay Harbor, Balboni brings both personal history and professional expertise to the role.

“I grew up on the ocean,” she said. “Salt is in my blood. I ate more fish by the time I was 4 probably than most adults did.”

Her background shows: rod-and-reel fishermen typically receive top marks due to minimal handling, and her lowest assigned grade so far remains a C. During inspections, Balboni scrutinizes skin integrity, meat coloration, and signs of deterioration like belly burn or bloodline discoloration. She uses tactile methods familiar to chefs—pressing flesh to assess texture and checking rigor by holding fish horizontally by the tail.

She’s also introduced innovations aimed at improving seller engagement, distributing detailed radar graphs showing how individual catches perform under grading criteria. Her goal: help captains identify ways to enhance future deliveries—and profits—through improved storage practices or temperature awareness.

“Ninety percent of the captains are very excited,” Balboni noted. “They love to know what’s going on with their fish and how they can improve.”

Devyn Campbell echoed that sentiment: “What she’s doing has essentially been a missing link there for a long time. For people who want to use the tool—and I think they will—it’ll be a game-changer in getting a more uniform quality standard.”

As the exchange seeks new revenue streams beyond its core auction operations, partnerships with entities like aquaculture firms and academic institutions have emerged. The facility now houses bait storage and oyster seed nurseries. Additionally, the University of Maine’s Pelagic Fisheries Lab conducts seasonal research on bluefin tuna there.

City officials acknowledge the exchange’s importance not only economically but culturally. “It’s a really important part of the Portland waterfront, and the state’s seafood economy,” said Heather Moretti, the city’s waterfront coordinator. “I think it gives Portland a bit of cachet to say we offload fishing boats and we’re a waterfront community.”

Yet even among locals, awareness of the exchange’s daily operations often goes unrecognized. During public tours last year, Moretti recalled, “More than 200 groups came through the facility… And I would guess 95 percent of them didn’t even know the auction was there.”

Looking ahead, Portland Fish Pier Authority board members plan to evaluate options for expanding non-auction services and diversifying income sources when they meet later this year.

“That’s what the board has been thinking about the past few years—other activities we can add to what the exchange already does, and thinking through additional sources of revenue,” Moretti said. “Hopefully it will evolve as the marine economy evolves.”