Fish supply hit

Press, 6 July 1977, Page 2

Fish supply hit

Some Christchurch fish shops have reported short supplies and a slight increase in fresh fish prices, but the president of the Fish Retailers’ Association (Mr B. Mather) said yesterday that supplies were reasonable, in spite of the bad weather. Some fish retailers said that because supplies had been so low, they had been forced to put up the prices of several varieties by 20c to 30c a kilogram during the last few days. However, Mr Mather said that there had been very good supplies in Christchurch for the time of the season. More than 600 cases of fish had been available at one of the Christchurch auction markets in the last two days. One of the auction nj*r-i

kets reported quite low supplies of fresh fish on Monday morning — it had only about 60 cases of flatfish to offer retailers. This was sold at 75c to 51.54 kg, depending on size and quality. Average fish prices in Christchurch fish shops this week are: flounder and sole fillets, s4.2okg; gurnard, s2.9okg; boneless red cod, s3kg; tarakihi, s3.6okg; ling, s2.7okg; lemon fish, up to s3.6okg; groper, s4kg; and groper steaks, s3.sokg. Mr Mather said tnat during the two weeks before the week-end stonn, fish supplies in Christchurch had been particularly good for the season. There should be plenty of fish available at the end of this week, when West Coast supplies arrive, Ihe said.