The Portland Fish Exchange, a fish auction operated by the city of Portland, Maine, U.S.A., is facing mounting losses and is seeking a financial bailout.
The market is posting around USD 30,000 (EUR 25,650) in monthly losses due to drastically lower local landings and sales, on which it takes a USD 0.25 (EUR 21) per pound commission, with the fee split between buyers and sellers.
Portland Fish Exchange Board Chairman Tom Valleau told the Portland Press Herald he will ask the city-operated Fish Pier Authority to cover its losses through June 2021 while it attempts to regain profitability. Valleau warned the exchange has nearly maxed out its USD 100,000 (EUR 85,500) line of credit and that it may close without help from the authority.
"I don't see an easy answer," Valleau said.
The Portland Fish Exchange, which opened in 1986, hosts a daily auction selling upwards of 90 percent of Maine’s groundfish catch to seafood wholesalers and processors. However, local landings plummeted this summer due to a variety of factors, with the coronavirus pandemic prominent among them, according to Valleau. In July, the auction took in 135,000 pounds of fish, versus 388,000 pounds in July 2019. In August, the total was no better: 130,000 pounds against 396,000 pounds in August 2019.
The market primarily handles the catch of dayboat fishermen, with other Maine-based fishermen choosing to land their catches in Massachusetts, where the market is bigger and where they face more lenient rules on selling lobsters pulled in as bycatch, Valleau said.
While the market’s financial situation has improved slightly in September and thus far in October, it is unlikely to regain profitability until the COVID-19 crisis abates.
"Now we are beginning to see a slight upward trend, but we have difficult times ahead without a doubt," Valleau said. "It is likely that this will continue until the COVID situation resolves, the restaurant sector recovers, the unemployment rate is reduced, and the Maine economy shows clear signs of a recovery."
Closure of the market “could be the death knell” for the industry in the state, Valleau said.
But even with the authority agreeing to cover the exchange’s losses, the market still faces an uncertain future, he said.
"It does not solve our problems, it just gives us operational comfort through the end of the (fiscal) year," Valleau said.
Photo courtesy of Portland Fish Exchange
