1. LARGEST OYSTER SELECTION TO CHOOSE FROM – we currently stock 36 varieties of half shell oysters from across the country. Your guests will never get bored because you can constantly change your lineup !! Ask your sales rep to email the inventory daily !!!
2. LOCAL MAHI GOING GOING GONE ! As predicted, the schools of mahi passing by the point of Hatteras NC are thinning out. They are packing boats today but not sure if the captains will try another trip. Soon they (schools of mahi) will disappear into the ocean abyss and show up in Nova Scotia in 2 weeks. Prices will rise substantially this week and most likely stay elevated for the remainder of the summer.
3. REALLY NICE WILD KING SALMON ! They are no doubt expensive but when you open a box of these 11/18 pound troll king salmon from Sitka Sound Alaska, you cannot help but be impressed by these magnificent fish. Whole fish $10.50 – fillets $15.95
4. WILD ALASKAN SOCKEYES IN BETTER SUPPLY THIS WEEK – Beautiful Copper River fish
5. VENEZUELAN HPP FRESH JUMBO & LUMP AT PRICE EQUILIBRIUM – If anyone can remember back before HPP, the pricing on Venezuelan fresh crabmeat was like a roller coaster ride. Wild fluctuations up and down. But now it seems that the HPP process has eliminated those wild swings. For the last three weeks we have barely moved one way or the other. HPP has eliminated the need to sell the meat at distressed prices. We are only 8 weeks away from Lake Maracaibo conservation, so start to get a game plan in your head for that time period.
6. CAPTAIN DEREK HOY STILL HARD AT WORK – BEST SEA SCALLOP ON THE MARKET HANDS DOWN — Derek is catching his 600 lb daily trip limit fairly frequently now each week with moderately better weather off Ocean City –
7. 13 DAYS LEFT OF HEAVY LOBSTER LANDINGS IN CANADA – Most areas of Canada spring lobster seasons close June 30. Processing plants are going full tilt right now. Inventories of tails and meat are rising. Market is softening on 3-4 oz and 4-5 oz tails. 5-6 and larger are strengthening, especially 6-7, 7-8, & 8-10 tails. The eastern shore of Cape Bretton is open until July 15 and larger lobsters dominate the catch there for much needed larger tails. The lobster meat market bottomed last winter and has rebounded some and seems stable at the moment.
8. TOO MUCH FRESH WATER KILLING THE CHESAPEAKE IN SEVERAL WAYS – The record amount of rainfall we have had in the watershed over the past year has virtually HALTED any growth in oysters, wild or farmed. Oysters need salt to form their shells to grow. So private bed oyster production is HALF of last year’s rate. Also, the Horne Point Research lab has YET to spawn the first oyster for larvae. Adult oysters require a certain temperature, and day period in order to spawn AND they also require a certain salinity which we DO NOT HAVE in the Bay right now. Fresh water has killed all the soft shell clams in the Bay. BLUE CRABS are not going north of the mouth of the Choptank in the Bay. Crabbers north of Tilghman have had a very poor year so far. If weather patterns don’t change soon, I’m not sure how long the Bay can withstand this much fresh water.
9. TOO MUCH FRESH WATER KILLING THE GULF OF MEXICO – the flood waters flowing down the Mississippi are being diverted into the marshes and killing the estuaries in Louisiana. 72 year old Eddie of Eddie’s Quality Oysters, does not expect to see a live oyster from July 1 on this year. Fresh water has killed all his beds. David McGuiness of Jensen Tuna says the plume of fresh water coming out of the mouth of the Mississippi has moved the entire tuna population to the western part of the Gulf off Texas. There they are free from the effects of incoming fresh water.
