Spring and summer tend to be particularly challenging times to source fresh Atlantic cod. One reason: The flaky white flesh tends to soften as the fish spawns at this time of year.
Availability got especially spotty starting 1 May, when East Coast fishermen adhered to a new catch-share fishery-management scheme and faced a mandatory 20-day block in which boats must remain tied to port.
Fishermen are nervous about the new groundfish regulations and the potential bycatch of pollock, the quota for which was more than halved this year, say suppliers. Once the pollock quota gets filled, fishing for all species comes to a halt.
Volumes are down and prices are high and climbing, but the iconic fish remained a key part of New England’s display auctions through the spring, where nearly all of the domestic Atlantic cod catch is put up for bid.
“There’s fish out there, but a lot of it is just fish. It’s soft, it’s not great,” said one East Coast distributor who sources from the display auctions. “The good stuff — people are paying good money for it, up to USD 4. Toward the weekend it goes for more money.”
In mid-May, whole scrod cod was priced in the low-USD 2 range at the Whaling City Auction in New Bedford, Mass., while market cod consistently topped USD 3. At the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction in Gloucester, Mass., whole market cod prices also typically exceeded USD 3 a pound, as they have for months.
But after auction fees, ice, transportation, labor, packaging and the inevitable loss in yield after processing, that cod fillet price closes in on USD 10 a pound for the restaurant or retail buyer.
The U.S. cod supply is buttressed by imports, which too are trending down, and not just because of the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, which shut down air transportation in Europe for several days in late April. U.S. cod imports in 2009 declined 9 percent from the previous year to 97.7 million pounds, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Through February, 4.5-kilogram blocks were down by more than 50 percent as production in China and Iceland, the top two suppliers, shifted to frozen fillets, imports of which spiked 28 percent.
