The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and the snow crab harvesters and processors in the Canadian province of Newfoundland are at odds with each other... Spring is officially here!
The world's largest snow crab fishery is inching closer to its opening date, and Catch the Current hosts Amanda Buckle and Lorin Castiglione are sharing the latest updates via an installment of their fictional soap opera, The Crabby and the Canadian.
But that's not all. Lorin's got some insight on haddock, which proved to be the market to watch in week 13. And Amanda's drooling over new seafood options as the 2025 Major League Baseball season kicks off.
Plus -- we've still got interviews from Seafood Expo North America! David Williams, fisheries scientist and founder at SeaD consulting, and Erin Williams, chief operating officer at the seafood genetic testing company, join Catch the Current in episode 10 to talk about the work they are doing exposing seafood fraud in the gulf states.
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Don't have time to listen? You're missing out on the fun! Find a transcript of episode 10 of Catch the Current below:
Amanda Buckle (AB): You’re listening to Catch the Current, the coolest seafood podcast out there, from the team at Undercurrent News, your trusted source for industry news, data and prices. I’m Amanda Buckle.
Lorin Castiglione (LC): And I’m Lorin Castiglione. Boy, did I have a week.
AB: Oh yeah? Tell me all about it!
LC: Well, it's not that juicy, but in the seafood world, it is. The haddock market’s been crazy!
AB: Yes! I saw that in UCN’s wholesale prices for week 13 that came out on Wednesday. Tell us more, Lorin.
LC: Haddock was the most active market mover this week. And when I say this week, we're looking at week 13, which is March 24-31. So overall, the US groundfish market held a full steady to firm tone.
But there was a standout mover flagged by industry participants. And that, of course, was haddock, with prices sharply higher across both twice- and single-frozen categories. The rise comes amid tightening inventories, elevated replacement costs and mounting concern over the pending expiration of tariff exemptions for key Chinese process items.
The current Section 301 tariff exclusion on Chinese processed haddock and yellowfin sole is set to expire on May 31, and many importers are already adjusting their strategies. Some companies have stopped taking new orders on inbound shipments and are relying solely on existing inventories. This shift reflects growing concern over the risk of a sudden 45% duty, unworkable cost increases for buyers and continued market uncertainty.
As I said before, haddock was the most active market mover this week, with industry sources pointing to declining US inventories, hesitant buyer behavior and just a general reluctance to commit to forward contracts. Prices climbed as sellers worked to manage limited supply while bracing for potential cost spikes tied to the reimposition of these tariffs.
I've got plenty more insight, including charts and graphs, in my latest US wholesale groundfish article. And it's not just groundfish that we've got highlighted this week.
But before I pass it over to Amanda, I do have some exciting news to share happening on the Undercurrent News pricing portal.
Next week, beginning March 31, we will have another big expansion to our US wholesale price-reporting efforts. That includes wild white and brown Mexican shrimp, both hard- and soft-shell live lobster, fresh and frozen salmon from Norway and Canada, and octopus from Indonesia, the Philippines, and of course, Spain.
We've got well over 400 price assessments across all major species with more on the way in the US wholesale markets. If you'd like a free trial to check it out for yourself, email me at lc@undercurrentnews.com, and I'll make sure to get you set up.
AB: See? For everyone who was like, "where's Lorin on the show floor?"
LC: That's what we've been doing.
AB: Thanks, Lorin. Now on from groundfish to shellfish, because we're getting too close to start of the snow crab season in Newfoundland and Labrador to not be talking about Canadian snow crab every week.
LC: I know you're just trying to play your Crabby and the Canadian theme song, aren't you?
AB: You got me. It's time for the Crabby and the Canadian.
Instead of TV, I keep my eyes peeled to what copy Barb Dean-Simmons has coming in, because she's getting all that juicy fish oil out of Newfoundland and Labrador.
While we're giving her a break from being grilled by us on the podcast this week, I still have all the key snow crab updates from her. And there's links back to her coverage in our show transcript. So be sure to check that out.
But for starters, it should be no surprise that the snow crab fishery in Newfoundland is in mayhem again as the season approaches. That's correct. And it's down to the wire.
The season is set to open on April 1. Well, maybe. And I'll get to that in a second.
The Standing Fish Price Setting Panel will be meeting this Saturday, March 29, to assess the rates set forward by the Fish, Food and Allied Workers, also known as FFAW, and the Association of Seafood Producers, or ASP. The panel is expected to make a decision within 72 hours, which will then be communicated to members at that time.
And remember that Barb explained this to us last time she was on the podcast. The Standing Fish Price-Setting Panel, they choose either FFAW or ASP's price. There's no compromise. There's no meeting in the middle.
If these two groups can't agree on a price ahead of time and this goes to the price setting panel on Saturday, one group is going to come out happy, and the other will be extremely unhappy. And we all know the last few years what happened. There were strikes and delays to the season.
LC: Exactly.
AB: Now, will that be the case? We'll have to wait and see. But I say that there's potential that the season won't actually start on April 1 because FFAW's inshore committee is also requesting a slight delay to the season to account for the timing of the panel's final decision.
LC: Barb is bound to send out a breaking email this weekend on the pricing news, as well as if the season gets pushed back. So if you're not subscribed to Undercurrent, what are you waiting for?
AB: The sun's out, flowers are blooming and the Canadian crab industry is at odds. I love spring.
LC: I know you love spring. Your excitement is obvious. I saw that the baseball stadium seafood story you wrote this week. Very cool.
AB: Yeah, Lorin, I have this new dream to be invited to one of the new food previews at a Major League Baseball stadium next year. I know I don't eat a lot of different foods being a pescatarian, but some of these sports venues are coming out with some truly baller food options.
LC: Baller. I see what you did there.
AB: I'm serious though, Lorin. I know you're not a baseball enthusiast, but I feel like you could get behind this...Sushi at ballparks?
LC: I'm in. Sure.
AB: So Legends Hospitality, it's the company that manages food and beverage operations for the New York Yankees. They announced that Bondi Sushi -- it's a little sushi chain that has locations throughout New York City -- will be opening up in the Audi Club at Yankee Stadium. The Audi Club requires a special pass, but those with that special golden ticket will be able to indulge at Bondi Sushi's full sushi station.
In addition to Yankee Stadium, T-Mobile Park, home to the Seattle Mariners, was actually one of the first stadiums to do sushi. This is really cool. And I really want to get someone from Sodexo Live, which is the hospitality group at T-Mobile Park. We've got to have them on the podcast to talk to us about sushi at the park.
LC: On the podcast, we need to meet them and do a live podcast at one of the stadiums.
AB: There we go, Lorin. Now we're talking. But yeah, they had sushi at their ballpark back in 2001 when Ichiro Suzuki, Hall of Fame Japanese outfielder, joined the team. They came out with the Ichiroll... I don't know how you just say it. It's salmon, crab salad, avocado, cucumber, green onion, fried onion, sriracha, rice and seaweed.
So 2001, this is when ballpark food was primarily, you know, your nachos and queso and hot dogs. And here was, you know, the Seattle Mariners. It wasn't T-Mobile Park at the time. And now 2025, they're bringing back this special roll in honor of Ichiro. It's going to be in section 132 at a location called Nakagawa.
Besides sushi, we also talk about lobster, too, in baseball. It's just cool because, like I said, we're primarily dealing with hot dogs here. Another stadium, Lorin, they're doing something called a Lob Dog. It's from the San Diego Padres, their hospitality partner, Delaware North. It's a grilled lobster tail with chorizo sausage on a split-top brioche bun.
Pacifico Market at PetCo Park is selling a Lob Dog (left) and a Lobster Roll during the 2025 baseball season. Photo Credit: Delaware North
LC: Interesting. A little surf-and-turf take. Okay.
AB: Yeah. And then, of course, you get like a traditional lobster roll. And then you go over to the Texas Rangers stadium in Arlington, Texas. They also have Delaware North as a hospitality partner, and you can also get lobster rolls there.
They got the Boston-style or Maine-style, which as a warm butter lobster roll fan myself, I can always appreciate. And then I think you're the opposite, aren't you, Lorin? Aren't you a Maine lobster roll fan?
LC: I sure am.
AB: Anyway, I'm sorry. I just love baseball and I love seafood. So when these two combine, I got really excited. The other cool thing that I thought Delaware North was doing is that they are using King and Prince's lobster sensations for a couple of entrees as well.
So they have a lobster mac and cheese that they're using the lobster sensations and then also in their lobster nachos dish. So again, it's, it is these like these classic items, but just elevated. So that way, you know, when you're going to a game, you're getting like this cool full experience because I mean, isn't that what it's all about? You know?
LC: It sure it is, for me, at least.
All right. Before we go, we have one final audio bite to play from this year's Seafood Expo North America. Amanda and I got to have a brief chat with David Williams, the fishery scientist and founder of SeaD Consulting and Erin Williams, chief operating officer at SeaD, about the rapid genetic testing that the company has been conducting on shrimp and the shocking results that they've uncovered.
AB: Take a listen.
[Editor's note: The audio with David and Erin Williams was recorded in Boston, Massachusetts, at Seafood Expo North America. It has been edited due to audibility.]
AB: So for starters, we're going to hit you with an easy one. Tell us about SeaD Consulting, because we've been seeing your press releases everywhere. SeaD's making some big waves right now with some of these findings that you're coming out with on US-sourced shrimp that's not actually Gulf [of Mexico] shrimp. So tell us more about the company.
David Williams (DW): What we do is we interface academia with the media and also within industry. So what we do is if nobody hears you, nothing happens. So we utilize the RITE test, the rapid genetic testing to identify secret species in different restaurant marketplaces along the Gulf Coast and Southeast Coast.
Erin Williams (EW): And we've found in various markets that fraud rates range from anywhere from 96% to 13%. Traditionally, we've noticed that market trends in the state of Louisiana are significantly lower than the other producing states. And we believe a significant portion of that is due to not only the culture there, but also the regulation on the legislative side.
They've worked very hard to break through the menu labeling goingforward. And we've seen the results. Similarly, states are trying to follow suit, such as Texas and Georgia.
So our test is a great way to get a snapshot.
A look at shrimp for testing during a survey in Georgia. Photo Credit: SeaD Consulting
AB: I was curious. I saw online that you're also working with the Southern Shrimp Alliance. So is that like a partnership, or how did that come about?
EW: The Southern Shrimp Alliance is an industry group. They contracted us to go into the different shrimp-producing states to get a good snapshot of the market. The highest rate we found was in [Florida's] Tampa/St. Petersburg [metro area]. So we tested 44 restaurants in that marketplace, and only two were serving domestic, local, wild-caught shrimp.
We go through all the shrimp-producing states along the Gulf Coast and the Southeast Coast, and essentially, we look at different states. So we've tested so far, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Georgia. We're aiming to go forward and also test in Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina.
AB: We've got more from David Williams and Erin Williams of SeaD Consulting in written form. So check the show notes on undercurrentnews.com to find that story and links to more stories that we talked about this week.
LC: Thanks for listening and we'll see you back next week.
AB: Bye.
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