The U.S. whitefish market tends to stutter a bit as winter approaches, with rougher weather stunting supply and holiday feasts shifting demand. This year is no different, but there are also other factors in the scarcity of fish these days.
In November, heavy rains and winds along the East Coast prevented much fishing from taking place. And when boats went to sea, they did so at great risk; one fisherman was lost at sea off the coast of Massachusetts, while a crew out of New Jersey was rescued after succumbing to a large wave. Suppliers say fishing effort is way down compared to recent years.
Volume at New England’s seafood display auctions has been light, due both to the weather and continued tentative behavior on the part of fishermen either unhappy with new catch-share rules or unwilling to test the boundaries of the regulations. Catch shares are a major bone of contention for East Coast fishermen, who say they were implemented too quickly and are taking their frustrations out on the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which enacted the regs in May.
Some New England distributors were pushing previously frozen options due to the dip in supply. Naturally, fresh fish prices went through the roof. For instance, scrod haddock cost more than USD 3 at one of the display auctions, which leads to a pricey off-the-knife product that some buyers have to pass on.
At New York’s Fulton Fish Market this fall, cod prices have been high compared to last year; actually, just about all fish prices are up. Check out these per-pound prices recorded in November, compared to November 2009: head-off market cod at USD 3.50/USD 2.50; cod fillets at USD 8/USD 5; whole Pacific halibut at USD 9.25/USD 7; monkfish tails at USD 5/ USD 3.25; whole hake at USD 2.25/USD 1.80; and large fluke at USD 3/USD 2.
A quick look at U.S. groundfish imports reveals that haddock is in fashion. According to NMFS, haddock imports through September were up 18.5 percent from the same time period in 2009, for a total of 57.3 million pounds. Supplies from Iceland and Canada remain steady but frozen haddock fillet imports from China spiked 315 percent to 16.6 million pounds.
