Fish price worry

While Barbadians are now paying $10 to $15 dollars less for a pack of flying fish, fisherfolks are hoping that they would be paying less at Easter.

Last Christmas the fish which forms part of Barbados’ national dish was being sold at between $35 and $40 per pack of 10.

But when Barbados TODAY visited the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex today, vendors were selling the fish between $20 and $25 dollars.

Vendors who agreed that the price should be reduced even further, said they are hoping that when the Easter season arrives they can sell the fish for less.

Fishermen lamented that the vendors might get their wish once the catch improves.

Returning to the island this morning after spending 16 days at sea where he caught about 14 000 flying fish, fisherman Jerome Brathwaite said Barbadians can be assured that flying fish will be around for Easter.

He said he caught between three and five crates (300 fish per crate) of flying fish per day while on his recent trip, but noted that he was accustomed to catching way more than that.

“Fish will be around for Easter. The price may go back up or come down, but fish will be around for Easter. The people in Barbados can rest assured that they are going to get fish for Easter,” Brathwaite said.

Another fisherman who requested anonymity also returned to the island today with what he described as a fair catch. That fisherman said “Once the catch continues on this trajectory Bajans will get fish at a reasonable price for the Easter holidays.”

“The catch wasn’t bad but we accustomed to catching more fish than this and that is why the vendors got to sell it for the price them selling it at now. But what I can say is that the catch is much better than it was around Christmas time,” the fisherman said.

Barbados TODAY understands that in recent weeks, fishermen have been selling flying fish at between $130 and $150 per hundred depending on the catch.

Vendor Angel reported that customers were happy to see the reduction in the price from $35 to $25. She said several customers have indicated that they were anxiously waiting for a cheaper buy.

“They are happy but not as happy as they are to see them come down to their price where they could get them at $15 per pack.

“But I don’t think that they would get to that price so soon because the vendors still paying a high cost for the fish from the boat,” Angel said.

Meanwhile, vendor Gad Taitt suggested that vendors who were able to sell flying fish at $20 would have to be buying thousands.

“When we had flying fish in here last week and week before, people buy three, four and five boxes of fish, and them people might still got flying fish to sell at $20.

“But the average Joe that does buy flying fish on a daily basis and clean and sell everyday would have flying fish at $25 because if we don’t have a lot of boats the price is going to be high.

“The man that buying 500 and 200 and 100 flying fish from the boat, is not going to get them at the price as the person that buying 10 and 15,000,” Taitt said.

Taitt advised Barbadians who know they want to have flying fish on their tables at Easter to purchase them now so they would not be disappointed if there were only few around later.

“Right now the flying fish ain’t stabilizing. Dolphins and flying fish ain’t stable and the price is fluctuating. So one day you might come and hear one price and another day you might come and hear another price. But I telling you that if the flying fish continue to go down as far as the catching is concerned, there is a possibility that the price could go back there,” Taitt said.
anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb