The East Coast haddock supply was supposed to be much more plentiful than it was during the summer. An increase in the biomass led to higher quotas and the promise of more fish at New England ports, but that just hasn’t been the case.
Fresh finfish landings at New England’s display auctions (Boston, New Bedford and Gloucester, Mass.) through mid-September were up 6 percent to a little more than 34 million pounds, according to NOAA Fisheries.
But haddock returns have been a disappointment thus far. Through mid-September, only 6.5 million pounds of haddock came through the auctions, down from 9.1 million pounds at the same time last year. Cod catches are flat, while hake, pollock, ocean perch, sole and monkfish harvests are consistent or higher this year.
“There hasn’t been a ton of [haddock] around,” said one Boston-based distributor. “But now with the Canadians fishing we’re seeing an increase.”
The distributor added that it’s too early to say whether scientists were wrong about the biomass. Fall is typically a better time for local groundfish landings.
Prices have been unusually high all year. In September, single-frozen haddock fillet shatterpacks were priced in the low-USD 4 range for all sizes, and in the high-USD 2 range for double-frozen product. Prices for fresh fillets, f.o.b. New England, were all over the map, anywhere from USD 6 a pound to more than USD 8 a pound.
“It’s crazy. Stupid,” said the distributor. “It’s got to be a balance where the fishermen are happy and the end users are happy, and right now we’re not there.”
U.S. haddock imports through July were down just 1 percent to 41 million pounds.
Frozen haddock fillets from Iceland were down to 2.83 million pounds through July from 4.48 million pounds during the same period in 2010, a 37 percent drop. Product from China has more than made up the difference, as imports increased 29 percent to 15.5 million pounds. Imports of fresh haddock fillets from Iceland are also down 8 percent to 1.47 million pounds. Imports of frozen haddock from Norway were up slightly to 8.32 million pounds.
