The new young herring season got underway in the Netherlands in traditional fashion with the first barrel of the fish – commonly known as “matjes” – being sold for charity for EUR 65,000 (USD 73,280).
Buying the first barrel of herring this year was a group of young entrepreneurs, calling themselves “Gentlemen of the Fish,” but the price they paid was EUR 25,000 (USD 28,182) less than the Plus supermarket group gave last year and EUR 30,000 (USD 33,818) below the record price achieved in 2012, reported DutchNews.
Matjes is the name given to young herring caught between mid-May and the end of June, although some fish are caught off the coast of Norway and Denmark some weeks before the season gets underway – to be salted and frozen in readiness for the considerable demand.
In 2015, the EU granted Dutch herring the label “guaranteed traditional speciality.”
It is estimated that the domestic market will eat 185 metric tons (MT) of them this year, spending around EUR 150 million (USD 169.1 million).
