Why is Fish so Expensive in Ireland?

whippetgood

go down the local harbour and get it there!!??

Morag

Cos it was considered the food of the poor and those who don't have cow and pigs.
With the type of grass land we had the cow was the how people measured wealth,
sure we have the book of the Táin which is about the cattle raids between the clans.

Only the really poor had to eat fish and then came christanity with it's black fasts on Wednesday and Friday were people were told no eating meat so they had to eat fish, that that all plays into the cultural reasons there's a bias against it, also most people don't know how to cook fish and aren't used to eating it.

Logical Fallacy

Seaneh wrote: »

untrue.

Would make sense for Cod/Salmon, but in reality it's because there is no demand for the stuff here.

Most of the stuff we land here gets sold in markets in Holland, France and other european countries because there is no value in it here.


On top of that, over 80% of all fish landed in the EU is taken from Irish waters, that's a **** ton of fish.

We were stupid to give away so much of our waters.

We needed to give something back to the EU seeing as they funded about 80% of every road built in this country for the last 2 decades.

kylith

Sharrow wrote: »

Cos it was considered the food of the poor and those who don't have cow and pigs.
With the type of grass land we had the cow was the how people measured wealth,
sure we have the book of the Táin which is about the cattle raids between the clans.

Only the really poor had to eat fish and then came christanity with it's black fasts on Wednesday and Friday were people were told no eating meat so they had to eat fish, that that all plays into the cultural reasons there's a bias against it, also most people don't know how to cook fish and aren't used to eating it.

I think you're onto something there. Having to eat fish was what the poor people did; rich people ate pork or beef.

As for our general lack of foodie culture I don't blame the famine; I'd blame the lead up to it and the aftermath of it. The '800 long years' if you will. Why do the Irish eat pigs feet? Because some other bugger's eating the rest of the pig, of course. It's hard to come up with gourmet cooking when the only ingredients you have are potatoes and dirt.

mike65

Trotters are a hip food these days, part of the back-to-basics slow food movement

Sindri

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

We needed to give something back to the EU seeing as they funded about 80% of every road built in this country for the last 2 decades.

Oh, so your one of them E.U. whipping boys, eh?:)

munchkin_utd

Solair wrote: »

It's mostly because the Irish and the Brits have a weird dislike of fish. <snip>
However, the result of this is that the market for fish is relatively small in Ireland and in the UK. Small market means very limited economies of scale and high distribution costs, particularly for a very perishable good which needs constant refrigeration and rapid distribution to market, which results in very high fish prices.<snip>

this post has the essence of the reason its as expensive as it is.

it was the subject of Marion Finnucane(IIRC) there the other week and the long and short was if more was eaten it would be cheaper as the fishmonger etc would be turning over more produce so less overhead per kg sold.

interestingly, they also mentioned that over 70% of fish eaten in Ireland is eaten out of the home in restaurants because
a) its smelly old stuff that stinks up the house according to the survey about Irish eating habits, thus leading to people not having it at home
b) people have no clue of how to cook it - so they dont bother and leave it to the experts
c) theres too many bones, so again people are put off by it

also regarding its importance in Ireland to the political elite which explains why we signed away all the fishing rights:
The late Brian Lenihan senior summed it up with saying that the amount of those employed in the fishing industry was so small that it wouldn't elect a TD in the first round! (Fianna fail being the party of winning elections not running the country, not that the others are much different)

And the size of the fleet is a historical thing (If I heard it right over my screaming daughter) as the brits didnt want the irish to be owning large boats in great numbers for security reasons.

Nothingbetter2d

i like fish

trout, salmon, haddock, cod, smoked coley, tuna, and plaice.

monkfish is nice but quite expensive.

Im not a fan of mackerel... i find it too slimy.

dont like anchovies... too salty

i like calamari but only if its cooked properly... sadly in irish sea food restaurants they tend to vulcanise the bejaysus out of it and its like eating a bicycle tube.

with regards to shell fish,

i like prawns, crab (not the pubic lice) and lobster (though its very expensive so havent had it too often)

not a fan of oysters or mussels

previous user

Love calamari

Jimoslimos

mike65 wrote: »

There is a huge foodie culture in the UK these days and not all of it is just sitting in the front room watching other people preparing and eating nice grub!

The conservative palate is an issue though, many types of fish aren't considered - its the usual cod, plaice, haddock and if you are feeling posh (in a Ferrraro Rocher way!) farmed Salmon. So much else out there be it fresh or sea water - Bass, Hake, Squid, Trout, Skate, Pilchard, Sprat, Herring, Pollock, Monkfish, Turbot, Tench, Carp and so on.

:eek: I like most fish, but I draw the line at carp. Rotten!

44leto

whippetgood wrote: »

go down the local harbour and get it there!!??

Excellent suggestion, I wonder do trawlers sell any of the catch when they come in to harbour, if not, they should, it would be cutting out the middle man.

gbee

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

Im not a fan of mackerel... i find it too slimy.

My mother would have been a top cook in 50's her warcry for Mackerel, which she loved, was "I'd need to see that fish coming out of the water and given to me straight away"

jam_mac_jam

I love Mackerel, I am glad people dont like it, keeps it cheap.

Big Nasty

Fish is always expensive, no matter whether you pay for it up front or over the course of 50 years.:cool:

RiseToTheTop

I agree with you OP.

In my nearby SuperValu it costs over €12 for a couple of pieces of Salmon

gbee

44leto wrote: »

Excellent suggestion, I wonder do trawlers sell any of the catch when they come in to harbour, if not, they should, it would be cutting out the middle man.

No it wouldn't, how many customers would you need to take 100 tines of fish from a small trawler? BTW, **some** trawlers regularly keep a sampling of their catch for just this event.

Some fishermen do 'day fishing' especially in England where they land their catch on their home pier and sell it locally. It happens, but it's not a commercially viable proposition.

One or two men n a boat, a couple of baskets of fish, and they make a living, but a skipper paying the boat's owner with a three man crew and hundred tonnes in his local pier ... it might happen once, in fact I think I remember a fish protest where this did happen, but it did not last.

lividduck

Basic economics Supply (fewer fish) V Demand (bigger market) = higher prices.
Get over it

44leto

gbee wrote: »

No it wouldn't, how many customers would you need to take 100 tines of fish from a small trawler? BTW, **some** trawlers regularly keep a sampling of their catch for just this event.

Some fishermen do 'day fishing' especially in England where they land their catch on their home pier and sell it locally. It happens, but it's not a commercially viable proposition.

One or two men n a boat, a couple of baskets of fish, and they make a living, but a skipper paying the boat's owner with a three man crew and hundred tonnes in his local pier ... it might happen once, in fact I think I remember a fish protest where this did happen, but it did not last.

I see I kind of envisioned a farmers market type thingy. But what you say does make sense.

theg81der

If you voted for Europe its your fault go shout of yourself in the mirror!

lividduck

theg81der wrote: »

If you voted for Europe its your fault go shout of yourself in the mirror!

Would that be the same Europe who built our motorways, subsidise our agriculture industry to the tune of billins, built our waste water tratment plants,modernized our telecommunication system,spent a small fortune on cohesion funding to the Border/midlands/west reigon and continue to part fund reigonal transport?

theg81der

lividduck wrote: »

Would that be the same Europe who built our motorways, subsidise our agriculture industry to the tune of billins, built our waste water tratment plants,modernized our telecommunication system,spent a small fortune on cohesion funding to the Border/midlands/west reigon and continue to part fund reigonal transport?

And the majority of people and our enviornment are much better off.....o wait no there not!:rolleyes:

lividduck

theg81der wrote: »

And the majority of people and our enviornment are much better off.....o wait no there not!:rolleyes:

having grown up in the 60'sand 70's i'll beg to differ

iregk

stovelid wrote: »

It's one of the things that's really piscine me off about this plaice.

He's here all week folks...

theg81der

lividduck wrote: »

having grown up in the 60'sand 70's i'll beg to differ

Having grown up in the 80`s I don`t give a crap I want my nice tasting food, clean air and clean water back. So everyone got to think they were rock stars for a few years where did it get them, I`m not seeing many happy faces around.

tayto lover

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

fish is so expensive because the mark up on it is so high.

most fishermen get feck all profit from a fish... its the wholesalers that buy it and sell it on that rip us off.

I go to a shop owned by the family who catch the fish and its no cheaper.
The price of fish is a rip-off.

Feisar

Ghandee wrote: »

Its not really that expensive tbh.


IMO one of the nicest pieces of fish you can get is Smoked Coley, you can pick up a huge piece of this (enough for 2 adults) for a couple of Euro in most places.

I was just thinking about coley then I was reading the thread. But sure it has to be smoked haddock at three times the price!?!?

Tope

whippetgood wrote: »

go down the local harbour and get it there!!??

44leto wrote: »

Excellent suggestion, I wonder do trawlers sell any of the catch when they come in to harbour, if not, they should, it would be cutting out the middle man.

When I was a kid in the 80's my dad used to pop down to the local harbour (Bullock harbour in Dalkey) and buy mackerel straight off the boats as they came in - I remember he'd get 5 mackerel for £1.00! Straight home, gut them and throw them on the grill, tasted amazing! He'd always say as we were eating; "An hour ago that fish was swimming in the sea!". No shop-bought mackerel I've ever tried has tasted as good.

I often wonder if you can still do that - I'd love to call down to the harbour during the summer and see if I can get my hands on some. Anyone tried it recently? Wonder what kind of price they'd charge these days...

Greentopia

I love fish, I eat it at least 3/4 times a week. I rarely buy fresh from the local seller though (no fish monger here only someone who sells out of the back of a van twice a week) as it's horrendously expensive except for mackeral) so I buy mostly frozen from Aldi and Lidl.

I eat mostly salmon, trout, smoked coley and haddock, prawns and hake.

Could never understand why more people don't eat fish either here. People say they can't cook it properly? learn FFS, open a cookery book, watch a TV program where they cook fish, it's not rocket science!

Bones? get it filleted by the fish monger or learn how to do it yourself, or buy frozen fish that doesn't need to be boned.

Smells the kitchen out-no extractor fan over the cooker and can't open a window??

Stupid excuses. The historical reasons-feudal times, oppression, poverty food, Catholicism I can understand more, but isn't it time we left all that crap behind and moved on?

Fish is wonderful, Europeans know that, time we did too.

Greentopia

Tope wrote: »

When I was a kid in the 80's my dad used to pop down to the local harbour (Bullock harbour in Dalkey) and buy mackerel straight off the boats as they came in - I remember he'd get 5 mackerel for £1.00! Straight home, gut them and throw them on the grill, tasted amazing! He'd always say as we were eating; "An hour ago that fish was swimming in the sea!". No shop-bought mackerel I've ever tried has tasted as good.

I grew up in Tramore and I have fond memories of my Mum buying mackeral straight off the boats too, absolutely wonderful.

Mackeral in particular doesn't keep very well. It has to be eaten within a few hours of being caught or else it's not worthwhile in my experience.

RichieC

We had some lovely pieces of Sea bass last week. lovely big bits too. I think it was 6 euro all in.