Cod farming return predicted to stabilise pricing

An uptick in cod farming could maintain the fish stock’s costs in about two years’ time, according to Direct Seafoods’ director of sustainability Laky Zervudachi.

Zervudachi said that continual cod quota cuts are making farming facilities more appealing after more than a decade of falling out of favour.

Zervudachi added that the Bidfresh brand is currently in conversation with two Norwegian cod farms.

UK Fisheries has reported that for 2024 the UK has been allocated only 700 tonnes of cod in Norwegian waters and 4,144 tonnes around Svalbard, as well as losing fishing opportunities in Greenland. Therefore, the total available cod for 2024 is less than 6,000 tonnes (including 1,100 tonnes of Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization quota allocated to the UK fleet), compared with a total of 19,500 in 2018.

While the UK previously had an organic cod farm called No Catch from Johnson Seafarms in Shetland, it entered administration after three years of operation in 2008.

Zervudachi said the new generation of farms have solved some of the financial and scaling challenges: “Over the past 10 years there’s been a lot of work looking at the biology behind cod farms and they’ve cracked some of the scientific information they need to produce it efficiently in quantity.

“With cod quotas coming down, there’s an opportunity for the farmers to show the value of their products on a more equal price footing.”

He believes that hospitality venues could benefit from this move, with farmed cod supplementing their wild counterparts to keep supply levels and pricing stable. He added that quality will be similarly high.

Zervudachi was speaking at a Bidfresh event on 9 May at the Langham, London, which showcased fresh produce and the importance of fresh food on menus. The programme focused on catering butcher brand Campbell Brothers and fresh ingredient supplier Oliver Kay as well as Direct Seafoods.

Each business took a different area of fresh food to champion, explaining how it is weaved into their ethos and the benefits it brings to chefs and operators.

Brian Hall, Bidfresh’s managing director, said: “Sustainability, provenance and seasonality are at the very heart of all three businesses and it’s their dedication to these details that truly makes them champions of fresh.”