Water, water everywhere, so why does fish cost so much?

By Denise Irvine*

Why is fresh fish so expensive in New Zealand when we're surrounded by water? This was the question from a colleague the other day who was bemoaning that fresh blue cod was as expensive, if not more so, than a decent piece of steak.

Blue cod, depending on your fish seller, is about $56.90-$69.90/kg, Scotch fillet is about $40-$44/kg, eye fillet is nudging $47-$55/kg or more, and sometimes level-pegging with blue cod.

Generally, the steak comes out cheaper than top-tier fish such as snapper, John Dory, blue cod and more. While Aotearoa-New Zealand's commercial fishers are reeling in the catches, they have also been reeling from several factors driving up the price of fish.

Fishing is big business in a country surrounded by water: the total estimated commercial catch for all species across all fisheries in the 2022-23 fishing year (October-September) was about 323,700 tonnes. The industry employs more than 16,500 people; it contributes about $2 billion to the economy in export earnings, with about 80 percent of the catch going overseas.

Doing the numbers for the home market, Stats NZ records significant fresh fish price hikes over 10 years, from $28.44/kg in January 2014 to $44.15/kg in January 2024. This is based on the cheapest available brand or variety in each retail outlet at the time of price collection.

Foodstuffs North Island seafood operations manager Brett Sellers said the company had seen marked increases in the past two or three years, although he felt that these had stabalised in recent times.

The supermarket giant bought Northland-based Leigh Fisheries in 2019, just ahead of the global Covid pandemic, and Sellers said there were significant Covid-related costs which pushed up the price of fish.

"The price of diesel started to rocket, it was quite scary for a while. There is no such thing as an EV fishing boat and most boats are more than 50 years old. They use a lot of diesel fuel. When the diesel price clocked up this had an impact on fish prices."

Sellers also listed compliance and quota costs, wage increases, freight, and demand from overseas markets among the drivers of price. On quota, he said that while this system was important for the sustainability of the country's fishery, it could be competitive and expensive for premium species such as snapper.

"Competition for quota pushes prices up."

There have been recent price rises at long-time Hamilton business Seafood Bazaar; there are currently notices in the store explaining this to customers and thanking them for their support in challenging times.

Seafood Bazaar is a family-operated fish retailer, wholesaler and exporter. Managing director Simon Rusbridge and daughter Sarah Nooyen, who works with her father, say while they had tried to avoid the move, it was time for a review.

"Price rises are a fact of life," said Rusbridge, "hopefully we will come out the other end."

Like Sellers at Foodstuffs, Rusbridge and Nooyen point to key contributors such as labour costs, electricity, diesel, and regulatory compliance costs.

"We haven't had an increase in about 18 months," said Nooyen, "this is about 5 percent across the board."

She said some customers had asked about it but there had been no change in volume of people through the fish market. "We love seeing the diverse communities who come here."

Seafood Bazaar does fish and chips as well as selling a wide range of fresh and frozen products. A fillet of battered fish (maybe lemon fish or trevally) is now $5, and Nooyen and Rusbridge point to under-rated species such as this, as well kahawai, monkfish and others under $30/kg which provide affordable meals and great flavours.

Rusbridge had steamed monkfish medallions ("poor man's crayfish") for dinner the other night with a stir-fry and it was delicious. He said there was no waste with fish, no fat to be trimmed, no shrinkage during cooking and, compared with meat, a smaller portion was needed.

Their fish market also sold whole fish (gilled, gutted and scaled), which was cheaper (Nooyen suggested wrapping it in tinfoil put it on the barbecue), as well as fish heads and fish frames for soups.

Sellers, at Foodstuffs, also said there was good value to be found among the under $30/kg species - sometimes regarded as bait or pet food - and he noted deep sea cod, blue moki, trevally, blue warehou, hoki and ling.

"They're all beautiful fish. Kiwis don't tend to look outside the well-known species. It will be peak hoki by about mid-June, it will come down to about $17-$20/kg. It is straight out of the water on the West Coast."

Frozen fish was another cost-effective option, he said.

Dr Jeremy Helson, chief executive of Seafood New Zealand, the organisation which represented the country's commercial fishers, said it was a frustrating time for the industry.

"Our fishers are doing a wonderful job and the quality of the fish is excellent. But the cost of getting it out of the water and to the customers is crippling."

He said the industry was seeing increases on top of current inflationary pressures which were specific to the fishing industry, among them fuel, wages, compliance costs including research, observation, cameras on boats, and significant government levies.

He said the industry now paid $42 million annually to government to cover services.

"This has crept up, and we'd like to have more engagement with government on this. How can we provide these requirements more efficiently and cost-effectively?

"If we can rebalance some of the costs and the economics of the industry we can make fish more affordable."

Helson believed New Zealand seafood had a great future, it was being well managed and sustainability was a high priority.

"The confluence of high costs is a storm we will weather."

In the meantime, note to colleague bemoaning the price of blue cod: think outside the premium box for a tasty meal. The monkfish medallions and stir-fry sounded pretty good.

*Denise Irvine is a Waikato journalist and food writer.