This year’s mid-August to mid-October U.S. Grand Banks swordfishery period has generally left its catchers, consumers and purveyors smiling.
"The fishes’ quality was typical for then, but the volume (landings) was higher this year," explained Joe Mason, a seafood buyer for Pigeon Cove Whole Foods in Gloucester.
The East Coast’s remaining distant-water swordfish longliners began arriving on the areas open to U.S. fishing around the Grand Banks off Newfoundland — namely, the tail of the Bank, about 800 miles from Gloucester, as well as The Flemish Cap — around May to longline swordfish until the end of October.