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RELIEF returned to Grimsby Fish Market this week after it received its first substantial fish supplies from Iceland for the first time several weeks. Almost 4,000 boxes were landed during the first three days. Although bidding was brisk, prices fell back from their previous high levels.
Shipments have been at an all time low since before Christmas and the situation has been worrying buyers in the port. Last week was one of the worst on record with only a few hundred boxes on the two busiest days of the market. Prices were also high. But the situation improved this week with the arrival of a more normal shipment on Tuesday.
Some merchants have decided to buy directly by bringing in supplies of cod and haddock from Norway and some of this did get onto the market, which remains Grimsby's central buying and selling point.
The atrocious weather off Iceland has to take some blame for the recent cod famine. However, the Iceland government decision to deduct a five per cent quota share on fresh fish exports is thought to be the main factor. It means that for every 100 tons exported unprocessed, five tons of a trawler company's quota is being deducted. It is thought that Reykjavik has introduced this rule to protect fish processing jobs at home.
Grimsby FMA chief executive Steve Norton said he was pleased for his members that the supply situation had improved but he would still like to see more fish from Iceland. He added that even more worrying was the problem of discards within the EU with perfectly good fish being thrown back into the sea, highlighted in the Fish Fight TV series. "We are pressing for something to be done about this," he added.
The weather issue was borne out by the fishing firm HB Grandi which had to halt fishing for capelin because of ice and heavy seas. Company spokesman Arnthór Hjörleifsson said: "Sea ice and the weather was as bad as it has been since New Year." One of his ships the Faxi RE had bad weather for the whole trip and he said that with such difficult seas, conditions were bordering on being too rough to fish.
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