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City officials were scrambling Tuesday to decode the meaning in the Mazzetta Company’s announcement that it plans to “temporarily suspend” its fresh fish processing operation at Gloucester Seafood Processing in the Blackburn Industrial Park to concentrate solely on lobster.

The announcement, contained in a one-paragraph statement issued by the Highland Park, Illinois-based parent of GSP, gave no reason for Mazzetta’s reversal in its business strategy, nor did it detail the implications for its workforce of about 200 full-time and seasonal workers or the plant in which it has invested at least $8 million.

“Gloucester Seafood Processing, owned by Mazzetta Company LLC, will temporarily suspend its fresh fish processing operation to reconfigure the production area at its Gloucester facility,” the company’s statement said. “This will solely affect fresh fish processing.”

The statement went on to say that GSP now will concentrate solely on lobster production, which includes cooked lobster meat, split blanched lobster, whole-cooked lobster, whole raw lobster, lobster tails and scored claws and arms.

“Mazzetta Company’s overall strategy is to further vertically integrate its lobster supply chain,” the statement said.

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