Norwegian cod has long been a firm favorite in the United Kingdom, but dramatically reduced quotas have lessened the product’s availability and made it much more expensive for the British buying public.
Not wanting to lose revenues from one of its most important seafood markets, Norway’s seafood industry is stepping up its promotion of some abundant alternatives.
At the 2025 Norway-U.K. Seafood Summit, held in London’s Fishmongers Hall, both the Norwegian Fishermen’s Sales Organization and the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) championed the country’s coldwater prawns (Pandalus borealis) as a ready replacement for cod in retail and foodservice channels.
The two groups highlighted that coldwater prawns remain ever-popular in U.K. retail, with supermarket sales accounting for over 80 percent of the volume of the species’ sales, versus warmwater shrimp, where 42 percent is sold at retail. Crucially, the Barents Sea quota, and subsequent supply of these prawns, is experiencing a strong upturn.
New NSC data determined that in 2024, U.K. retail sales of coldwater prawns grew by 2 percent to 14,600 metric tons (MT), with cocktail prawns providing the main growth for the past five years. The analysis also found that more of the product is being sold as refreshed cooked and peeled, with families and people aged over 50 accounting for most of the consumption.
Norwegian Fishermen’s Sales Organization Marketing Manager Synne Guldbrandsen also told the summit that the Barents Sea catch increased 37 percent last year to just over 75,000 MT, the majority of which was caught and landed by Norwegian vessels.
This year, the scientific advice allows for the catch to double to 150,000 MT. As such, the Barents Sea will account for half the global supply of coldwater prawns, Guldbrandsen said. By comparison, the Barents Sea cod quotas have been reduced four years in a row, including a 25 percent cut in the total allowable catch (TAC) for 2025, which will reduce the supply to just 340,000 MT.
NSC Analyst Josefine Voraa said the quota increases for coldwater prawns provide further opportunity for Norwegian prawns in the U.K. market, where they have already been filling the gap left by shrinking supplies from Greenland and Canada...
