What sets Joe’s Fresh Catch apart from its competition is in the middle of its business name – “Fresh,” says Joe Pomerleau, owner of the new seafood market in Coconut Point.

“If I can’t sell it to a customer and they can take it home and put it in the refrigerator for one or two nights before they eat it, I don’t like to even sell it to them,” says Pomerleau, a seasonal resident who has been a lobsterman and fisherman for decades in Maine. After selling seafood at farmers markets in Southwest Florida for years, Pomerleau has noticed sales of northern Atlantic fish such as cod, haddock and halibut have declined recently in favor of Gulf seafood such as grouper, hogfish, mahi, snapper and tripletail. 

“There’s a new movement to buy local and support local,” he says. But that didn’t stop him from ordering some frozen walleye this week for seasonal transplants from the Great Lakes states.  

In addition to fresh seafood such as salmon, scallops, lobster tails and king crab legs sold by the pound, Joe’s is a lunch or dinner destination. “We make lobster rolls here. We have lobster quiche now that you can buy by the slice,” he says.

The dine-in or to-go menu features crab cakes, ceviche, lobster bisque, New England clam chowder, fish tacos, shrimp and lobster scampi, salads, fisherman platters and even a few non-seafood items. In addition to the new store, Joe’s Fresh Catch is a vendor at the farmers markets at Coconut Point on Thursdays, Promenade at Bonita Bay on Saturdays and at South Collier on Sundays. 

Joe’s Fresh Catch, 23050 Via Villagio, Suite 113, is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. For daily specials and more information, see Joe’s Fresh Catch page on Facebook.