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October 4, 2011

The month of October should present a lot of opportunities in the mid-Atlantic. We should see a lot of Flounder with extremely attractive prices coming. In addition, we should see increased availability of Wild Striped Bass as the month continues. There is still plenty of quota remaining and prices should trickle down on the Striped Bass as the month progresses. We’re also hoping to see other fish in the mid-Atlantic become available as a by-catch of these openings including Redfish, Black Bass and other like items.

Swordfish should remain at a decent availability for the month with the exception of the full moon. Towards the end of the month availability will taper off as the weather in the North Atlantic (out to sea) becomes rougher. If you have seen and remember the movie “The Perfect Storm”, that was a late October hurricane in the Atlantic that caused all of the problems.

There is one long-line caught species that is scarce, and will probably remain scarce for the rest of the year; Tuna. Tuna swim in more tropical waters. In the western Pacific there is a dearth of supply, probably because of over fishing by the net fleet that supplies the canned tuna industry.  In addition, there is a lot of net-fishing for Tuna in Central and South America that supplies the canned Tuna industry in that part of the world. That resource is also seeing a drastic reduction in availability.

Personally, we think this is also caused by indiscriminate net fishing from boats supplying the canned tuna industry. Tuna, which is a very prolific species, has never been judged to be endangered or in short supply  but it is starting to look more and more like it may be because of the net catching of Tuna which targets all sizes of Tuna including the juveniles which does not allow the fish to reproduce.

One industry that is most likely fully recovered and is probably being artificially held back from commercial fishing and therefore the public’s use by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which governs our waters is Snapper and Grouper off of the Florida and Gulf Coast. According to reports from fisherman and scientists there are plenty of Snapper and Grouper in the Gulf and off of the Atlantic Seaboard but we are not allowed to fish them except at very low levels. Therefore the price of USA harvested fish are remaining high and will continue for the foreseeable future. What is needed, as with all limited catch species, is a scientifically based assessment of the resource. This will tell us how much fish can truly be harvested with enough fish remaining for the fish population to sustain itself. This is called Maximum Sustainable Yield.

Mexico, which shares the Gulf of Mexico with the United States, is busy fishing for Octopus and they are receiving record-breaking prices on Octopus at this time. Because of this, Grouper will be expensive as long as supply is curtailed from Mexico.


On a positive note, we are seeing more availability of Snapper out the Pacific coasts of Central and South America, especially Dotted Lane and Caribbean Snapper, as the waters are becoming more normal after the severe La Nina of last year.

With the change in waters we will be seeing more and more Mahi Mahi showing up and prices will come down, especially around the middle of the month. Ecuador has been on conservation for forty-five days, which is the period that they prohibit fishing for Mahi; this ends on October 7, 2011. Within a week of that date we should be seeing good landings on Mahi and fresh prices should be trickling down.

Because of the severe La Nina of last year there was a tremendous shortage of Frozen Mahi so prices may not fall as quickly as we would like while the frozen pipeline is refilled but it is just a matter of time before the prices come down on fresh and, in the not-so-distant future, frozen Mahi.

Speaking of prices coming down, it is only a matter of time before prices come down even further on Atlantic Salmon as there seems to be ample supply coming out of Chile, as well as, Scotland and Norway. Because the dollar has recently gained strength we’re starting to see some very reasonable prices on Scottish Salmon and Norwegian Fillets. Canadian product is also coming into the marketplace and their availability is expected to increase as the month continues. Wild Salmon, for all intents and purposes, will be over by the end of this month. The last Cohos will be in the marketplace until probably the third week of October and after that we could see some Chums/Ketas from Puget Sound that will last until November. However, this is not considered a high-quality fishery and we will probably not stock this for fresh sales.

There is a shortage of Rainbow Trout in North Carolina, which is our main source of Trout, because of the severe heat this summer and limited rainfall. Because of these droughts and the hot summer, the Trout did not grow well so we’re seeing a little bit of a shortfall in Carolina Mountain Premium Trout. We are also getting Trout out of South America and they are at their limit in production for white-meat Trout. There is plenty of red-pigmented Trout because that is what the rest of the world wants. We are looking into bringing that in because the prices are better and the availability is there for red-pigmented Rainbow Trout.

Farmed-fish is becoming more and more prevalent, as everyone knows. We have made two exciting discoveries over the last thirty days and are beginning to actualize the importation of Farmed Cobia out of Panama which will be sushi-quality and the price will be way down from where it has been. The fish will yield between 1.25-3.0 lb filets and they should be selling skin-on for under ten dollars and skinless-boneless filets in the twelve dollar range. Portions will also be available. For those of you who have never tried Cobia, it is a very wonderful-tasting fish.

In addition, many of you may remember that we were getting Kona Kampachi® out of the Big Island in Hawaii. This is a species of Yellowtail/Pacific Amberjack that is farm-raised in deep ocean cages in a very sustainable and ecologically pure manner. Kona Kampachi® is the same basic fish as the Yellowtail that you see in the sushi bar except that this is fresh quality. It can be called Yellowtail because it is the same basic species but the fish is a little bit smaller. They average 2-4 pounds H&G and 5-6 pounds head-on. They are wonderful for any application that calls for Hamachi or Yellowtail as well as being a great safe, flavorful, high-fat fish to use in any recipe from tartar to sushi applications to grilled and sautéed.


http://www.kona-blue.com/aboutus.php


Because the dollar has strengthened, Loup de mer from Greece, Italy, and Spain along with Dorade will be readily available and prices should be coming down over the next thirty days; if the dollar continues to strengthen.

One farmed-fish that is problematic is Catfish from the South. The catfish growing land of the Mississippi Delta has now become more valuable for the planting of cotton, soy beans, corn and grains than to raise Catfish. The world market is super-high on these items and a lot of farmers have converted their farms back to these crops and cotton. This means prices are at an all-time high for domestically raised Catfish. To help alleviate this we have a number of alternative items to offer you. One is a Wild Catfish Filet which is from Lake Okeechobee in Florida. Boats net this fish and it is brought in every night so it is extremely fresh and processed from freshly caught fish. The only down side to this is that the product is not sized and is basically a lake-run size on the Wild Catfish. The good news is that it is two to three dollars cheaper than the farm-raised Catfish and many people think the flavor is a lot better. We also have this in dressed 4-7 and 8-12 sizes and can get larger sized Catfish if the demand is there.  

We also have another species we can’t call Catfish according to the USDA, but is actually a similar species grown in Southeast Asia. We carry Swai as well as Pangasius from Asia. These are a type of Catfish that is grown in those countries and is also a good substitute so you may want to look at these.

Many people predict that Pangasius will be the new Tilapia of the world because of its rapid growth rate and good feed conversion. We have located some good sources in the Far East and we’re concentrating on a 100% net weight product that is not off-tasting because of mud or algae.

Wild Halibut will be winding down at the end of the month and by the middle of November it will be completely over. We will be bringing in Fresh Farmed Halibut over the next 30-60 days to replace this as well as having some Frozen-At-Sea product to get us through the winter until the season starts again in March.

North Atlantic fish will be available but prices will be determined by the weather; a string of bad weather could make items like Cod and Haddock go through the roof.

In the mid-Atlantic, with the close availability of natural resources in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland we should be in good shape for Flounder.

Scallops will probably rise in price as days at sea dwindle for the Scallop fleet.

Lobster will probably increase slightly in price over the coming month but we will still have good availability. The Lobsters will be getting harder and Fresh Jumbo Lobster Lump will be an almost daily occurrence for us. It is a great item and will supplement or replace Jumbo Crab Meat in any recipe.

Speaking of Crab Meat, as winter comes the availability of domestic Crab Meat usually falters and the price goes up. The good news is that this year we will also have some fresh Imports from different areas because this season looks like it is going to be a good one in Central and South America because of the diminishing effects of the La Nina.


Clams and Mussels should be fairly steady. In addition, we should have lots of Oysters coming on stream although Southern Oysters are always tight and availability is suspect until after November. We will have a good variety and a lot of good choices between West Coast and East Coast and especially well-priced Oysters form the mid-Atlantic this year.


We will have good supplies of Fresh Shrimp but overall the frozen large Shrimp market looks to be problematic so we suggest that you stock up on Shrimp now, especially U/10’s, U/12’s and 16/20’s which we are getting with some regularity out of the Gulf. Hopefully we will be getting more and more out of Mexico as their Wild Shrimp season kicks in.