Lee Fish, one of the largest exporters of seafood from New Zealand and several other countries, created a market for barramundi in the United States several years ago. Now, as more sources of barramundi are coming online and Americans are becoming more familiar with the fish, a number of lesser quality products are coming on the market, says Myles Bowker, VP of sales and marketing for Lee Fish USA in Inglewood, Calif.
SeafoodSource recently talked with Bowker about the state of the barramundi market, as well as other fish and shellfish from New Zealand.
Blank: Tell us about Lee Fish’s international expansion.
Bowker: The company started in New Zealand in the 1950’s with Thai snapper, or red sea bream. We export it directly to Japan and it is a very popular product there. Now, the company has offices in Switzerland, the United States, Singapore and New Zealand. Lee Fish USA was set up in 2001 to import the fish from our fishery in New Zealand and diversified its portfolio to include fish from eight to 10 other countries around the world. We focus predominantly on fresh fish, but we developed strong capabilities in frozen seafood in the last year.
Blank: You import large volumes of fresh barramundi and now frozen barramundi. How has that market changed over the last year?
Bowker: When we started importing this product in from Australia back in 2001, it was relatively unheard of. Today, it is unfortunately becoming more of a commodity item, as more and more countries start producing this species of fish that is becoming a great bass-type alternative, so we are seeing more sub-par product arriving into the United States. I am worried about it becoming commoditized like tilapia and swai are. In some parts of Asia, for example, there are hundreds of small farmers that grow out fish. The whole fish are then collected from multiple farms and transported to a processing facility. In some cases, the distance between the farms and processing facility is substantial, which leads to inferior quality due to age, a lack of ice and poor transportation. It is also well known within the industry that some countries produce a fillet that has a muddy off-flavor, which is a result of dirty water or pond-farmed fish. The Barramundi we import is farm-raised in sea water, which eliminates this muddy off-flavor and, because it is grown out in salt water farms, the shelf life is far better as well.
Blank: Which new seafood items are you importing?
Bowker: We have brought in fresh live mussels and oysters from Sea Products, which owns the majority of the mussel farms in the northern region of New Zealand, for several years. This year, we began carrying their frozen Halfshell Greenshells Mussels as the exclusive importer for North America. Being in the North Island of New Zealand, our supplier is fortunately not expected to have the same supply issues as other suppliers are having in the coming year. In addition, we are re-introducing Cleanseas Hiramasa Kingfish out of Port Lincoln, Australia. It had quite a big name in the United States a few years back and, as customers are getting their hands on it again, we are starting to see a resurgence.
We are also launching Blue cod from the Chatham islands off the coast of New Zealand. It is a very remote, artisanal fishery in which the fish is pot-caught. It is very different from traditional cod on the U.S. market. It feeds on abalone and lobster and has a sweet-tasting delicate meat.
In addition, we are introducing Kiwa Flat Oysters, the first farmed flat oyster out of New Zealand. It is a very high-end product, priced at the top of the market, and is extremely different from any of the oysters on any of the menus we have seen on both the West Coat and East Coast of the United States. We are the exclusive United States importer for Petuna, which just received Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification for both salmon and trout.
Blank: Who are your primary customers?
Bowker: We sell to wholesalers throughout North America. A lot of what we do ends up in foodservice. Our customers appreciate that we bring in these newer, different species from around the world. It helps them offer differentiation for their customers – primarily upscale restaurants. With our move into more frozen lines, we are developing greater capabilities in catering to our customers’ needs for retail business – including Bristol Farms or Whole Foods through Superior in Los Angeles, Whole Foods through Fortune Fish in Chicago and Citarella’s through Lockwood & Winant in New York, to name a few.
