SEAFOOD PRICES REFLECT A COMPLEX SUPPLY CHAIN

As restaurants and other foodservice operations began shutting down in March, the demand for seafood plummeted.

“The fishing industry is foodservice dependent, so once the demand decreased, the fishermen stopped going out in their boats,” says Barton Seaver, a Maine-based chef and lead educator for seafoodliteracy.com.

“About 75% of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is sold by restaurants,” confirms Ben Martens, executive director of Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, a nonprofit that supports sustainability and community-based fishermen.

Now that restaurants are reopening, it’s taking a while for the fresh supply to get back up to speed, leading to higher prices. Smaller fisheries and dayboat fleets that typically supply higher-end restaurants were told by wholesalers not to go out fishing during the pandemic. At the Portland Fish Exchange in Maine, prices were down by 34% as late as May, says Martens. Although fishermen were struggling economically, they were getting killed by low prices at the docks.

Larger vessels go further off the coast of New England and the fish is frozen on board, with most product going to chains and other large seafood users. The lion’s share of Alaska seafood, including salmon, halibut, cod, pollock and crab is also frozen fresh, says Megan Rider, domestic marketing director for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. During the height of the pandemic, boats continued to go out and fill the pipeline with fresh frozen fish, which was a boon for supply chain logistics these past few months.