Union Hall celebrates as it picks up two major national seafood awards

UNION Hall was celebrating last night after the seaside village picked up two awards at the first ever BIM National Seafood Awards held in the Clayton Hotel in Dublin.

Stephen Hurley from The Fish Shop in Union Hall won the coveted title of ‘BIM Young Fishmonger of the Year’ for the Independent Seafood Specialist Category, while DC Fish Ltd, also in Union Hall, won ‘Fishing Enterprise of the Year’ in the Competitiveness Category.

Stephen Hurley has worked at Glenmar Shellfish / The Fish Shop in Union Hall for the past 10 years and he prides himself on stocking locally caught fish and shellfish in store. He is in a unique position as he is on first name terms with the skippers and crews and can tell a customer exactly where their fish was caught and by who.

DC Fish is owned and managed by the Deasy Family and employs nine staff. They operate a successful seafood business model that offers a ‘frozen at sea’ product range to domestic retail and export driven wholesale seafood business

Out of 38 finalists shortlisted across the areas of skills, sustainability, innovation and competitiveness, twelve winners received awards for their outstanding contributions to the fishing, fish farming, seafood processing and retails sectors.

‘The BIM National Seafood Awards provide us with the opportunity to celebrate the positive contribution of this valuable indigenous industry and recognise excellence and leadership across this diverse sector,’ said Clonakilty woman Tara McCarthy, CEO of BIM, and incoming chief at Bor