This Week in Fish December 12, 2011
BIG SHRIMPIN'
Congressional Seafood has for years sold an excellent brand of domestic shrimp called Dominick's. These are shell-on shrimp caught in the Gulf of Mexico off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana and Alabama. We carry all sizes from U/10's through 41/50's. As it turns out, our very own Dominick Ficarino is the star of the new hit series on the History Channel called Big Shrimpin'. It chronicles the life and difficulties of trying to make it as a "shrimper" in the Gulf of Mexico. It is fascinating and provides a new perspective of just how those shrimp got in that 5 lb box when they arrive at your back door. If you would like to feature "Dominick's" brand shrimp in a promotion, contact your sales representative.
The domestic shrimp market seems to have "bottomed out" after a summer long decline in prices. The best values are 16's and smaller. Larger sizes (u/12's and u/10's) are still hard to come by. Mexico harvests most of its "farmed shrimp" (Vannamei whites) from September through November. That shrimp is hitting the market now putting downward pressure on 16's, 21's and 26's. The domestic peeled shrimp market is rising fast. It was a poor season in the Gulf and peeled prices from 110/130 through 40/50's have made 15-20% jumps. Peeled prices will remain high through next spring.
LIVE LOBSTERS
Lobster season has opened in Nova Scotia. Catches are high and the fishermen are trying to hold out for more money. The problem is the mild winter so far has allowed Maine production to continue and keep prices fairly low. With the weak American dollar and poor economies around the world, the boat price on live lobster to the fishermen in Nova Scotia are hitting historic lows. The catch in Nova Scotia is all hardshells and a significant proportion of the harvest is larger lobsters (halves and 2-4's). Prices will rise slightly between now and Christmas but still represent a value compared to last year. Any major price hikes will come between Christmas and New Years.
Lobsters are a $1 billion industry in Canada and a $500 million one in the US. They employ together almost 40,000 skippers and crew. The US consumes almost 60% of the lobsters produced in Canada. Ironically, half of our Maine lobster harvest is exported to Canada to be processed into meat and tails. Our Maine lobster fishery is MSC certified sustainable and Nova Scotia's lobster fishery is currently undergoing MSC assessment. Put lobster products on your holiday menus. They are extremely popular and a great value this year.
LOBSTER MEAT & TAILS
Our Downeast brand lobster meat and lobster tails have been a tremendous hit in the short period of time we have carried them. The quality of the picked lobster meat is only slightly surpassed by fresh picked meat. We carry 4 different picks of lobster meat. CK - whole claws & knuckle TCK - whole tails, claws & knuckle Split tail meat (whole tails) & Body meat -- These meats are "bone-dry" with certified drain weights and absolutely no chemicals. The taste of these meats will astound you, we guarantee it.
Downeast brand lobster tails are the best quality tail on the market hands down. You will never get a bad or "mushy" tail because they freeze only "hardshell lobsters". We currently carry 5-6 ounce through 10-12's. Larger tails are available.
WILD ROCKFISH
Gill-net season in the Maryland waters of the Chesapeake opened December 6th. The December quota is 220,000 lbs. Fishermen are allowed to fish Tueday through Thursday until the quota is caught. This week, they landed approximately 65,000 lbs. Most of the fish are small (2-6 lbs). The big migratory stripers are still far north (New Jersy and higher) because of the unseasonably mild water temperatures. Virginia fishermen are tagging a few stripers also. Any Virginia fishermen with rockfish tags only has 19 days left to "use them or lose them". Their season operates on a calendar year and it closes New Years Eve. Each Virginia fishermen is given a finite amount of tags and if they don't use them up, they lose them. Currently we are getting rock from towns like, Rock Hall, Tilghman Island, Colonial Beach, Cape Charles and Chincoteague.
Wild rockfish is an excellent choice for your holiday menu. We will have wild rock through New Years. Sizing will vary according to what size of fish is available. If it turns cold soon, the jumbo rockfish will arrive in Virginia waters shortly thereafter. If not, the fishermen will target the smaller "resident fish" in the Bay. Either way, we will have wild rock for your menu. At the present time, there is no great abundance of stripers on the market to depress prices. That could change quickly with a blast of Arctic weather.
CRABMEAT
Louisiana and Alabama houses are still picking crabs regularly. That is unusual for mid December but happening this year because of the mild winter so far. Mexico and Venezuela are both producing moderate amounts fresh crabmeat too. Combined production from these areas has been just enough to meet demand. The demand will likely outstrip supply over the next 3 weeks forcing some customers into the pasteurized arena. We carry a full line of pasteurized meats from Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Mexico. The picks we carry are Colossal, Jumbo, Superlump, Lump and Claw. We also carry a pasteurized jumbo blue crab cocktail claw from Mexico. Contact your sales rep to prepare for the busy weeks ahead.
FLUKE
Summer flounder (fluke fillet) is an excellent choice for your Christmas and New Years menus. This fish tastes great and is easily recognized as a quality locally produced seafood item by your clientele. The method of harvest is gill-net and trawl and supply is excellent with both Virginia and North Carolina open. The Virginia quota alone is around 900,000 lbs. Fluke come in three sizes, medium (1-2 lb) large (2-3lb) and jumbos (3-6lb). We are currently receiving these fish packed from places like Hampton Roads, and Chincoteague. The North Carolina boats are being allowed to pack-out in Virginia because Oregon Inlet has shoaled up so bad, none of the trawlers can get through it.
SALMON
Atlantic salmon remains one of the best values in the seafood business today. With whole fish in the mid to upper 3's (depending on the size), and fillets around $6, farmed Atlantics are dollars less expensive than any other well know seafood item. We carry the True North brand of farmed salmon. They are owned by Cooke Aquaulture, the largest salmon producer in North America. They harvest, on average, almost 2 million pounds of salmon a week. We are also bringing in beautiful whole Norwegian salmon twice a week, direct from Denmark. Along with the Norwegian salmon, we bring the Norwegian cod and haddock when available. These fish come from inside the Arctic circle and the quality has to be seen to be believed. This week, we received our first shipment of "Gold Label" smoked Norwegian salmon. This supplier is one of Norway's oldest smokehouses and has won many awards in Germany and Sweden. They have a secret recipe that includes smoking with Juniper chips. We are proud to be able to offer it to our customers. Try some. We welcome your opinion.
MAHI
Winter is "mahi season" in Central America. Fish are currently being produced out of Guatemala, Costa Rica and Ecuador. Production has been steady and prices seem to have hit bottom for now. The frozen cold smoked mahi market is very short of product. Therefore, fresh prices will probably not go any lower for now. Having said that, mahi fillets are under $8 and should remain there through New Years. Fresh mahi fillet is another great seafood choice for your holiday menus.
GROUPER SNAPPER
The weather in the Gulf of Mexico between now and the end of the year is the major determining factor in the availability of domestic snapper (Vermillion & Genuine American) and grouper. Boats have been able to make short trips in between cold fronts blowing across the Gulf. Landings of Vermillion (bee-liners) snappers have been fairly consistent. When the domestic fish aren't available, we will supplement with yellowtails out of the Keys or Mexico. Many of our black groupers actually come from around Cancun and are boated across the Gulf and trucked to markets around the country. Snapper season is closed in the Atlantic untilJanuary 1. Boats are managing to get out weekly and targeting black grouper and triggerfish. We have both species most of the time. Snappers and groupers should be available for the holidays, weather permitting.
TUNA SWORD
Our tuna supply at Congressional Seafood is outstanding because we import large tuna shipments weekly from all over the world. In any given week, we will have tuna from the Gulf of Mexico, South Africa, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cape Hatteras. Tuna supply is actually the worst in early to mid January after all the boats come in at once for Christmas and New Years. We carry bigeyes and yellowfins of all grades (1's 2+ & 2's) and sizes. All fish are longline-caught and custom cut to order. Swordfish landings in the North Atlantic this fall have been high. These fish are curently migrating south to winter in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Many of our swordfish this time of year come from the Florida straights (the area between the east coast of Florida and the Bahamas) from a fishing method called "hand-gear swordfishing". That's right, swordfish caught by hand. No machinery is allowed. These fishermen fish for only 12 hours and literally wrestle the swordfish into the boat alive. Needless to say, these are some of the highest quality swordfish you will ever see.
HALIBUT
Alaskan halibut season closed November 15th, so that leaves only east coast Canadian production and farmed Norwegian as our two sources for fresh halibut until mid-March. Prices are stupid expensive with fillets skin on pushing the $20 mark. There is no relief in sight with yet another 20% reduction in the Alaskan quota for 2012. This means we went from a 50 million pound Alaskan halibut quota in 2010 to a 32 million pound quota next year. Prices jumped an average of 30% this year with a 10 million pound reduction. Add another 8 million pound reduction in quota next year and only Donald Trump will be able to afford fresh halibut.
FRESH SHRIMP
We are receiving superb quality fresh white 16/20 count Florida shrimp out of the panhandle around Panama City. The shrimp arrive, generally speaking, on Mondays and Thursdays. We are fairly conservative in our speculation on this very perishable item. Pre-orders help secure your supply. Order days are Tuesdays (forThurs arrival) and Saturdays (for Monday arrival). Try some. They taste nothing like a frozen shrimp.
