"Factory trawlers and sustainable fishing just do not mix," said Steve Parkes, a seafood processor here.

The issue of the secret agreement came to the surface in January, when the seven seafood processors put in claims totaling $745 million, or 15 percent of the $5 billion.

The Campbell Soup Company said it had acquired a Belgian seafood processor for an undisclosed amount of cash.

But a third group, sea clammers, ply their trade in offshore waters and sell their catch to large seafood processors.

But they are expected to include businesses ranging from the state monopoly on grain distribution to confiscated sugar mills, textile factories and seafood processors.

Then in 1993 it moved the bulk of its operations to South Carolina, which is home to many seafood processors.

The Senate tax bill would grant seafood processors an 80 percent deduction, as opposed to the customary 50 percent, phased in over 10 years.

F. Nelson Blount, the heir to the largest seafood processor in the United States, was an avid railroad enthusiast.

Unlike the Agriculture Department, the F.D.A. carries out few inspections, no more than one a year at each seafood processor.

The criteria that the MSC applies to fisheries were developed in consultation between fishermen, fisheries managers, seafood processors, retailers, fishery scientists, and environmental groups.