For many fresh Pacific halibut buyers, high prices for early-season offerings are no deterrent at all. The frenzy around fresh Alaska salmon, once that season begins, is the stuff of legend, but halibut is also a hot ticket, especially in cities like Seattle.
Demand is a bit soft this year, however, despite adequate supply. The Alaska halibut season kicked off 12 March and got off to a strong start thanks to good weather, mostly in Bristol Bay and parts of Southeast Alaska. About three weeks into the season, 7 percent of the 30.4-million-pound quota had been landed, about 2.4 million pounds (H&G weight); an additional 2.1 million pounds via community development quotas, or CDQs, should also hit the market this spring and summer. The season ends on 18 November.
Last year’s Alaska harvest pulled nearly 40 million pounds of halibut ashore. With a 19 percent supply dip for 2011, prices out of the chute, as one could expect, were high and should remain high. Fishing vessels were commanding up to USD 7.25 a pound, says one Pacific Northwest buyer, who noted that most of the early offerings were smaller fish in the 10- to 20-pound range. The quality was extremely good, he noted.
But at that price, and even in the mid-USD 5 to mid-USD 6 range where the market settled after a couple of weeks, not everyone was biting and a lot of fish ended up in cold storage. Therefore, expect the frozen-fish market to get off to an earlier start than usual (but even frozen halibut can command a king’s ransom). Restaurant patrons may pay up to USD 40 for a halibut entrée once, but will they do so again? For retailers, even atop-notch option like fresh halibut fillets can be a tough sell at USD 25 a pound or more.
British Columbia fishermen landed about 1 million pounds of halibut after their season began a few days late. Their quota is just 6.7 million pounds. The International Pacific Halibut Commission sets the limits for both the Alaska and British Columbia catches.
