The sablefish, or black cod, supply tightens a bit each year due to quota reductions. But buyers shouldn't worry about the health of stocks in the North Pacific, which are considered sustainably harvested and well managed.
Alaska's sablefish (Anopoploma fimbria) fishery earned Marine Stewardship Council certification four years ago. And in late July, British Columbia's much-smaller sablefish fishery followed suit. While Alaska's 2010 quota sits at 24.8 million pounds, Canada's 2010-11 season quota is roughly 5.18 million pounds (2,350 metric tons).
Historically, much of the combined sablefish supply has been exported to Japan, where buyers prize the fish's rich, velvety texture and high oil content. The fish is also no longer a mystery to U.S. chefs, who are finding sablefish to be a suitable replacement for Chilean sea bass, or Patagonian toothfish, at roughly half the price.
U.S. sablefish exports to Japan are down 5 percent this year to about 5.3 million pounds, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Alaska's sablefish fishery, which opened on 6 March, ends on 15 November. As of 10 August, 72 percent of the quota had been reached, or 17.7 million pounds.
Only about 5 percent of Canada's wild sablefish supply stays in Canada, according to the Canadian Sablefish Association. Japan imports about 75 percent of its harvest, while the remainder is shipped to the United States, Europe, China and the Middle East.
British Columbia is also home to a small but growing sablefish-farming industry that produces a little more than 500,000 pounds annually, according to one of the province's farmers.
"It's a pretty small little industry," said the farmer. "But there's been a lot of R&D and we've been able to learn from the farmed salmon guys. It's taken a lot of years and it's just coming on stream now."
Prices for head-on farmed sablefish out of Vancouver, B.C., are typically between USD 6.25 and USD 6.75 a pound, according to the farmer, which is about 15 or 20 percent more expensive than the wild product. "We have sushi and sashimi ability the wild guys don't have," he adds. "There's a lack of oily whitefish for the sashimi trade worldwide."
Through June, U.S. sablefish imports from Canada were up 45 percent to 269,392 pounds, according to NMFS. Of that total, only 23.7 percent was fresh product.
The 2004 Alaska sablefish quota of 38 million pounds represented a 12-year high; declines in recent years represent a return to typical levels. From 1997 to 2002, the sablefish quota averaged 29.3 million pounds and never exceeded 30 million.
Ex-vessel prices have seen modest growth over the past three years, reaching USD 3 per pound in some Gulf of Alaska ports.
