August 10, 2021 — In 2019, Maine’s total commercial groundfish landings were valued around $4 million. In 2020, fleets in Maine landed just 58,730 pounds of cod, averaging $2.55 per pound at the dock valued at $149,844, whereas 15.2 million pounds had been landed a decade before.
A 2021 NOAA status update reported that in New England, 13 commercial species are currently considered “overfished” including: Atlantic cod (considered collapsed), yellowtail flounder, Atlantic halibut, winter flounder, and Atlantic herring.
“One problem is that there are so many dogfish out there, and they’re having trouble getting groundfish, over the whole Eastern Seaboard,” says George Parr, a longtime fishmonger at Upstream Trucking in Portland, Maine. In recent years, dogfish have been showing up earlier and earlier in the Gulf of Maine. While dogfish rarely prey on Atlantic cod, studies have looked into whether dogfish populations may be limiting cod, by competition or predation.
“For every hundred pounds of [other] fish they bring in, they bring in 500 pounds of dogfish,” says Parr. “They get 10 cents a pound for it.”
At the Portland Fish Exchange in Portland, Maine, large haddock was $2.26 per pound, while pollock was averaging $1.69 for small, $2.54 for medium and $2.66 for large in early July.
“But right now, large pollock is getting around $3 for whole fish,” adds Parr. “Twenty years ago, you’d be lucky to get 40 cents per pound.” Early July average auction prices for cod were $3.01 for market size and $5.10 for large.