Market Report

Spring represents the best buys of the year

Longer days, warmer weather and calmer seas are good news for seafood lovers, as landings pick up and high winter prices for fresh fish ease considerably. In numerous cases, spring represents the best buys of the year as fishermen sometimes land more fish than the market can readily absorb.

Longer days, warmer weather and calmer seas are good news for seafood lovers, as landings pick up and high winter prices for fresh fish ease considerably.

On the East Coast, haddock stocks have rebounded, making this premium white fish a much better buy. When the Canadian fishery off Nova Scotia kicks in later this spring, look for some good buys.

Speaking of Canada, spring is also the season for snow crab and lobster, the country's two most valuable fisheries. Snow crab fishing started in mid April and most of the catch will be landed by June. Retailers are planning some heavy promotions on snow crab in late spring and summer, which will be the best time to stock up. The big spring lobster fishery in the Maritimes gets underway in early May, a great month to get a deal on lobsters.

If you're looking for a deal on Dungeness crab, forget about it. Landings from this winter's ocean fishery - the main source of frozen Dungeness - were about half the levels of the previous few years. At the same time, increasing demand from live crab buyers (more and more Dungeness are being flown live to China to meet that country's booming demand for seafood) has pushed fishermen's prices to record levels. That means very little Dungeness was frozen, so don't be surprised if your fishmonger is out of this popular seafood.

King crab, on the other hand, is a relatively good buy - at least for now. The last inventories of crab from Russia's record catch last year are now being sold by retailers, sometimes at very low, "loss leader" prices. If you see big legs for under $10 a pound, buy all you can, because prices are only going one way for the rest of the year - and that's up. Catches from the winter and spring fishery in Russia have been well below last year and wholesale prices had already risen more than 20 percent by April.

The big spring lobster fishery in the Maritimes gets underway in early May, a great month to get a deal on lobsters.

A mild winter should be good news for watermen on Chesapeake Bay, where blue crab should dig themselves out of the mud earlier than usual. Landings should be heavy by May, so expect prices to be at very reasonable levels then.

Shrimp farmers in Latin American and Southeast Asia keep growing more and more of America's most popular seafood. Not surprisingly, that's made a great value even better, as wholesale prices of medium sized shrimp have fallen about 10 percent this year to record lows. Down on the Gulf, American shrimpers landed a bumper catch, adding further downward pressure on prices. With the price of many seafoods stuck at relatively high levels, shrimp is one of the few seafood items retailers can promote on a regular basis, so watch for good buys.

The price of fresh farmed salmon fillets remains at high levels and little relief is in site. Fillets that used to retail at $3.99 or $4.99 a pound now are usually $7.99 or more. Frozen wild salmon can often be a better value. Simply Seafood keta salmon fillets, for example, consistently retail for under $4.99 a pound -a price level that is not expected to change through the summer.