Tor Bendiksen knew that Blue Harvest Fisheries was in financial trouble in early September, when the company bounced a $12,500 check.  

His company, Reidar’s Manufacturing, specializes in building trawl gear for fishing vessels. It is one of many small, family-owned businesses that had come to both support and depend on Blue Harvest as it expanded to become the single-largest groundfish company on the East Coast. And at the time the first check bounced, he was already working to fill another order — this one for more than $50,000 — to build new nets for the Blue Harvest fleet.

But days later, Bendiksen received notice that Blue Harvest had declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Then, last week, Blue Harvest filed an additional notice claiming that it does not have sufficient funds to settle its debts, which according to filings total over $100 million. Read more!