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They say that seeing is believing, but here
at Wood's,
we say taste is everything, and we promise
to provide you with... |
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We specialize in American Wild Caught Shrimp
Fresh from Florida
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Woods Shrimping...
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Five generations of Forgotten Coast seafood,
Wood's
Fisheries, Inc. and SeaKist Shrimp,
is one
of the larger players in Florida’s
shrimp
game.
After the new millennium dawned, a vast majority
of independent and corporate shrimp retailers
and whole sellers took a terrible financial
beating—many operations forced to close their
doors due to the high cost of regulation
and the flood of cheap imports. Although
many of their seafood neighbors had tremendous
adjustments to make, SeaKist Shrimp, their
employees, and today’s management of CEO
Edward E Wood Sr., VP Mark Godwin, and VP
Edward E Wood Jr.—and their family legacy
weathered the storm and emerged a viable
force in the shrimping industry.
Mr. Wood’s ancestors, almost all of whom
were anglers of some sort, arrived in the
Port St. Joe domain in the late 1800’s. Gabe
Wood and his son Daniel Elton called “L”
Wood were the first to arrive, planting family
roots and catching fish and building fishing
vessels. In the late fifties, Edward’s grandfather,
M.C., (stands for MC) and his son Edward
E. Wood Sr. known locally as Buddy Wood decided
to try their hand at shrimping.
They
started
with one boat and would catch
shrimp
by the
masses. In the beginning they
sold
their
catch fresh to unloading docks
around
the coast.
Later they formed a partnership
and began
unloading
their own shrimp here
in Port
St. Joe.
He and his son, Buddy would
sit on
the side
of Highway 98 and wait for
the seafood
trucks
bound for New Orleans
to stop
and buy
their fresh catch.
Edward
laughs
as he remembers his father’s
stories
of days
from a simpler time. “Dad
said
they
would sit in their truck on the
side
of highway
98, no money for a phone
call,
and certainly
not enough for the chance
at missing
the passing
trucks that would
buy their
fresh
catch. They knew if they
dosed
off,
the trucks would pass by and there
would
be no
money.” Likely the men would
be tired.
Shrimping
through much of the night
and all
of dawn;
often their boat the only
visible
light
on the dark foggy, St. Joe
Bay horizon.
Catching
as much as one small
boat
could
hold they would bring their shrimp
back
to St.
Joe to package and box, sweat
and wait.
Fate has a way of stepping in when you least
expect it. One afternoon in the late sixties,
a woman, Ruth Corbit, stopped to talk with
the two Forgotten Coast shrimpers, and informed
them she was from “Florida Seafood” out of
Jacksonville, explaining to them how they
could go from making 2 cents to over 30 cents
a pound if they would freeze their catch
in 5lb boxes. A business relationship was
born that day, and a growing local icon began
to surface. Their first building had no top
or phone. However, the Wood’s family quickly
grew to a dozen boats and two buildings.
In 1973, MC and Buddy Wood incorporated the
business and moved to their current location
on the canal. The truck on the side of the
road evolved into one of the largest, most
reputable shrimp entities in the nation.
Specializing in fresh, domestic wild caught
Forgotten Coast shrimp, Wood's Fisheries
will soon feature the area's only aquatic
farming facility. Transforming over a hundred
years through five generations into an example
of faith and hard work, Wood’s Fisheries
and SeaKist Shrimp puts the Forgotten Coast
on the map, in yet another thriving tradition
of American entrepreneurialism. |
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© Copyright 2007, Woods Fisheries, Inc., 464 Angelfish Road, Port St. Joe, FL 32456, All rights reserved.
Email: sales@woodsfisheries.com, Toll Free: (800) 309-6055, Local: (850) 227-1517, Fax: (850) 229-8841
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