FISH DEMAND FADES
Businesses try to stay afloat
The spread of the coronavirus has upended the seafood industry as restaurants close, fishermen tie up their boats and even big-money catches like lobster see lower demand, industry leaders say.
Robert Nagle, vice president of Boston-based seafood wholesaler John Nagle Co., said the industry is trying to do all that it can as more fishing boats are tying up because of a decrease in demand.
“If a boat can’t get enough money, they can’t pay their bills, they can’t pay their crews, the boat is not viable,” Nagle said.
Live lobsters, which are usually sold to restaurants and exported around the world, have been essentially shut down with no one to buy catches, Nagle said.
James Hook, of Bostonbased James Hook & Co., said the company’s Boston location remains open but retail restrictions have slowed business.
“The wholesale part — it’s not much (business) because there’s nothing open,” Hook said Sunday. “There’s a little bit but not much.”
The wholesale price for live 1.25-pound lobsters in March was 33% under 2018 levels, according to business publisher Urner Barry. A ripple effect has been a slowdown in distribution, processing and the most important piece of the supply chain — fishing.
Bert Jongerden, general manager of the Portland Fish Exchange in Maine said the market for scallops is also nonexistent, and the market is moving less than a third of the 60,000 pounds of fish it would move in a normal week.
“Heard some stories with people coming in with lobsters saying dealers wouldn’t take them,” Jongerden said. “And we don’t have a lot of fish.”
Gov. Charlie Baker’s order to shut down nonessential businesses was recently extended through May 4, as restaurants have been reduced to just takeout and delivery.
Some restaurants are still committing to seafood, as Ninety Nine Restaurants said it will still buy 750,000 pounds of Gloucester-landed haddock through a local small business initiative, the Gloucester Daily Times reported last month.
A Trump administration aid package approved last month included $300 million to boost the industry, setting aside money for fishermen, fishing communities, processors and others directly affected by the coronavirus slowdowns.
Nagle said Boston’s $3 million rent and $2 million small business relief funds could help individuals in the industry, while Eversource and even Massport, a landlord to seafood businesses, have been willing to negotiate rent payments.
Customers are still buying seafood at supermarkets, and there’s a possibility for growth because more Americans are cooking at home amid shutdowns, Jongerden said.
Nagle made a pitch for households to eat more seafood to get more beneficial Omega-3, saying decades ago it was common for household shoppers to buy and cook a whole fish, with the bones adding flavor for a dish like a baked stuffed haddock.
“There was virtually no waste,” Nagle said. “It was much cheaper because the boats unloaded the whole fish and they got the maximum price possible. … It might be one way we can help to get some of the boats back fishing.”