1. FINAL FEW WEEKS OF VENEZUELAN FRESH CRABMEAT PRODUCTION – The amount of fresh crabmeat entering the US has slowed to a trickle. The price of Venezuelan is actually above the current domestic market. Carolina is picking plenty of fresh beautiful looking meat right now. The transition to all domestic meat will be seamless.
2. WILD SOCKEYE CATCH IN BRISTOL BAY EXCEEDS 26 MILLION FISH !!!! It is a season for the record books in Bristol Bay this year. Many more sockeyes being landed then projected. Don’t miss out on these fire engine red fillets – prices under $10 for fillet
3. JUMBO ROCK CATCH IN MASSACHUSETTS WAY OFF – As yet another bad sign for the health of the coastal rockfish population, we are 4 weeks into the Massachusetts rockfish season and barely 10% of the quota has been caught. Fishermen up there tell me this is the least amount of fish they have seen in over a decade. Back home here in Maryland, our resident fish are in similar shape. The entire local rockfish population is contained in only a 10 mile stretch of the Bay from the Bay bridge to just north of Rock Hall. Boats from Chesapeake Beach make the 20 mile trek every day to find fish for their charters. In the early 2000’s when we arguably had TOO MANY rock in the Bay, that same resident school stretched from Aberdeen Proving Grounds (north of Baltimore) to Point Lookout at the mouth of the Potomac River, a distance of about 90 miles. There will be massive cuts to both the recreational and commercial quotas next year because there is no doubt these fish are in trouble.
4. FRASIER RIVER WILD SALMON TO BE HELICOPTERED OVER RIVER BLOCKAGE – A landslide on the Frasier River in a remote area of British Columbia has blocked the migration of tens of thousands of Chinook (king), sockeye and coho salmon and is preventing them from getting to their spawning grounds. If nothing is done it could result in the permanent loss of the river’s wild king population. If you can believe it, they are going to catch and AIRLIFT the fish (with helicopters) over the blocked part of the river and allow them to resume their spawning run. I doubt many other fish can say they have taken a plane ride !!!!
5. MASSACHUSETTS BLACK BASS SEASON HAS STARTED – Sushi quality hook & line fish will make a meal you will never forget ! Prices are reasonable so try some this week.
6. OYSTER GALLONS BREAK THE $100 MARK !! Climate change does affect your wallet. With the record annual rainfall (and the corresponding low salinity) comes record slow oyster growth and record oyster mortality on the Chesapeake Bay oyster beds. No help from the Gulf because virtually all the oysters down there are already dead or dying. So the seafood business is the classic case of the law of supply and demand and that means …. high prices
7. FRESH CAROLINA SHRIMP ARE GROWING !!!! They count 26/30 per pound this week. They should be 21’s by next week. No other shrimp compares to the flavor of these LOCAL delicacies – Boats are landing in coastal towns like Oriental NC or Topsail Island NC or Swan Quarter NC –
8. # 1 BLUEFIN TUNAS EVERYWHERE AT “GIVEAWAY” PRICES – Everyone from Nova Scotia to Maryland says they have never seen more bluefins in their lives. Don’t miss out on this iconic fish – # 1 loins are $1 an ounce
