This Week in FIsh Sept 26, 2011

This week in Fish…  

September 26, 2011

Although Hurricane Irene is a distant memory, its effects can still be felt over a month later. The wind and tides associated with the storm interrupted fishing on the entire coast, but the real damage came later in the form of flooding. The Susquehana River, which provides 60 % of the Chesapeake's fresh water and flows 412 miles out of New York State, has had record floods. At one point, about a week after the storm, 43 of the 52 flood gates on the Conowingo Dam were opened, generating a flow of 800,000 cubic feet per second! Hurricane Agnes (1972), the most damaging ecological event in the history of the Chesapeake Bay, generated a flow of 1,200,000 feet per second. So Hurricane Irene was 2/3's as powerful a storm, from a flooding perspective, as Hurricane Agnes. The damage assessment to the Chesapeake is still underway. The sediment (silt particles) carried by the floodwaters have undoubtedly covered completely some of the oyster bars in the upper Chesapeake. Swan Point oyster bar off Rock Hall was one of the most productive bars on the Bay prior to Agnes. Oystermen routinely came from as far away as Smith Island to oyster there during the season. Swan Point never recovered after Agnes. Agnes hit in late June, when farmers were planting. Much of the soil was exposed and there was plenty of fertilizer on the fields. We had huge algal blooms and the sediment runoff was tremendous. We were lucky that Hurricane Irene came in September. The water was much cooler and the algal blooms were not as significant. We have drastically improved our "storm water management" practices over the last 40 years, so hopefully the siltation will not be as bad.

The floodwaters wiped out crabbing in the upper Bay for about two weeks, tightening crab and crabmeat supplies and pushing prices upward all over the country. Supplies are slowly getting back to normal. In North Carolina's Pamlico Sound, the fresh shrimp season is effectively over. There is so much debris left in the water (trees, piers, refridgerators etc) that the shrimp boats cannot pull their nets without tearing them apart. Consequently they don't fish for shrimp. It will be much the same story in the Chesapeake Bay this winter when the "drift-gil net" season for rockfish begins on December 1. By law, their nets must "drift" along the bottom to be legal. It will be nearly impossible to find a stretch of the Bay's bottom (with rockfish in it) without snags above the Bay Bridge.

FISH UNDER $10

I never thought I would see the day when we would consider fish under $10/lb (for fillets) inexpensive, but that is the reality today. The traditional wild species (grouper, snapper, halibut, rockfish, Chilean sea bass, black sea bass) have, through a combination of harvest restrictions and ever increasing demand, been elevated pricewise to a point that no one thought sustainable. There is rarely enough fish on the market at any given time, to depress the fillet price much below $15 for fillets for any of these species. We are now charging as much for halibut fillet as Chilean sea bass fillet. Keep in mind that the halibut quota was cut by over 10 MILLION pounds this year, representing a 20% decrease in the harvest. As these traditional species' populations recover, their quotas will increase. However, the NMFS currently is erring on the side of caution when it comes to harvest poundage.  We have plenty of great tasting fish options under $10. The challenge will be our customer's ability to market these "not so recognizable" species to their clientele.

The weather in the Atlantic is fairly calm allowing the small boats to get out on a regular basis. They primarily target Vermillion snappers (bee-liners) but also regularly catch triggerfish and occasionally some wahoo. Wahoo look very similar to a barracuda but with snow white meat. They grill easily and taste terrific. Wahoo loins sell for $8.95. Triggerfish are smaller fillets (less than a pound) but are firm, white and grillable. Triggers are known to have an outstanding taste! Try some. You won't be disappointed ($8.95 fillets). We have Carolina triggers and wahoo arriving this week! In the Gulf, the "bottom boats", in addition to their targeted species (reds and bees) catch some Gulf amberjacks. This is a big meaty fish, underutilized but still on a quota system, that sells for less than $8 on fillets most of the time. They are parasite free unlike their Atlantic cousins. Tripletail and corvina are two "grouper-like" species that are harvested in Panama and Surinam. We have both species in house fairly frequently. Longfin albacores are a bycatch of the longline sword/tuna boats in the fall. We are getting some off a local boat packing in Barnegut Light NJ today. The loins, which look similar to yellowfin tuna loins but paler, average around 6 lbs each and sell for less than $6!!! These fish are extremely fresh but have no fat in their meat and go from "rare" to "well done" in an instant !   Another example of an inexpensive local seafood product is the "sugar toad", or Atlantic puffer fish. This product is pure white meat, skinless and 100% usable. It was the "original chicken of the sea". We have them frozen now in 5 lb bags that sell for only $5 !! We are almost to the very end of soft crab season here in the Chesapeake, and there are still a few around. If you want to run them again before they are gone for the winter, speak now ! We also have superb quality frozen dressed jumbo soft crabs for less than $3 a piece.

Other fish species in this category include monkfish, cod, pollock, tilapia, farmed and wild catfish fillets as well as many different types of local shellfish. Why not think about grilling some "prime size" (4") oysters that are around 50 cents each? Six on a plate would cost only $3 and would satisfy even the most voracious of appetites.

OYSTER SEASON

Maryland oyster season starts October 1. There will be plenty of product hitting the market right away. It looks to be another above average year for natural reproduction in the Chesapeake Bay. Tangier Sound, St Mary's River, Broad Creek and the Patuxent River all expect good production to start the season. The tremendous quantities of fresh water over the past two summers have kept MSX and Dermo at bay, allowing the younger oysters to live another year and get to marketable size. The flip side of that coin is that fresh water is bad for juvenile oyster recruitment. So only time will tell if this upward trend in the Bay's native oyster population will continue.

Delaware and New Jersey waters have been closed for over a month to oystering, due to the incredible amounts of rain that have fallen. Look for those areas to put a lot of oysters on the market in a short period of time (once they reopen) as their seasonn ends in the second week of November. North Carolina has a good crop of oysters coming on also.The Gulf states are producing some oysters but won't be the dominant players on the market as they have in years past prior to the spill.  Most of their oyster harvest will be consumed locally. They will only be a "fill-in" to the big shucking houses on the Bay. If all goes as planned, look for gallon prices to drop 5-10% from current levels by the end of October.

We have dozens and dozens of different varieties of "half-shell" oysters avilable from all over the country. Much like the wine industry, each brand of oyster has its own unique flavor and story. We inventory daily the regular players like Bluepoints, Island Creeks, Chincoteague Salts, Malapeques, Raspberries, Wiannos, James Rivers, Rappahanocks, Olde Salts, Wellfleets, Sewanscotts, Kumos and many more. You can choose from literally hundreds more varieties by asking your sales rep to email you one of the many oyster lists we get from our suppliers daily. Just a phone call prior to noon will get you any oyster you want from those lists the next day. Good shucking !!!

CRABMEAT

The fresh crabmeat market is slowly returning to normal. There is enough fresh meat available to satisfy demand, and prices should fall when Venezuelan production resumes Octoer 1. The first fresh product from the new Venezuelan season will arrive October 6th or 7th. We will have excellent availability on all domestic meats until the cold weather arrives. Traditionally Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina are finished (due to cold weather) around Thanksgiving. That is only 8 weeks away. If you want your favorite domestic crabmeat put up in pasteurized, now is the time to speak to your sales rep.Most domestic suppliers only pasteurize what they have orders for. Believe it or not, pasteurized Indonesian product is moving well, even with jumbo selling in the low 20's per pound. Superlump prices have hit historic highs.. There is still no sign of any major crab landings in Asia. However, the "season" for high production in Indonesia starts in November. These containers would theoretically hit the US after Christmas and New Years. So our first chance for a price break on pasteurized will be after the first of January 2012.

SUMMER FLOUNDER --  FLUKE

Not many species are behaving like normal this year, but hopefully the fall run of pound-net fluke in Pamlico Sound will be a good one. Fish started to show in good numbers this weekend, and the market on fluke fillet will be under $10 this week. These fish are primarily mediums and larges with only a few jumbos showing so far. These fish are caught alive and immediately iced or slushed. It is some of the highest quality fish we sell.  Pound-net flukes will run strong through November. December 1 starts trawl-season on flukes in several states, so hand-cut fluke fillets are an excellent menu item through New Years!!!

WILD ROCKFISH

New York doesn't export a whole lot of fish out of state. So many people live in New York, they usually consume everything they produce there. Much of the year, our lovely friends in New York exacerbate seafood prices by calling all over the Atlantic and Gulf and offering ridiculous money for anything they deem in short supply. With that being said, we are getting some excellent quality large rock out of Long Island ! Fish are averaging 8 to 12 pounds (28"-36" limit). I guess they are cheap by NY standards but considered expensive in Maryland. Whole fish are over 6 and fillets almost $15. Back in God's country, Maryland waters are producing 5/8 and 2/4 lb fish. These are mostly pound-net fish, as the DNR has shut down hook- and- line until October 1. Where are the jumbo rockfish ? They are slowly making their way down from Massachusetts, arriving at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel just in time for Thanksgiving. There should be adequate supplies of small and medium rock through the fall, but no big influx of fish is forecast. The fish will get larger as it gets colder. This is a good menu item for the fall.

SWORDFISH

Sword landings are still high and prices are a value. We have a dressed 409 lb swordfish landed in Wanchese NC arriving tomorrow! Swordfish are being caught now from Halifax to Hatteras. Many long-liners in the North Atlantic will continue to target swordfish through this next full moon. Prices have been in the single digits and will remain so in the near future.