Swordfish: Demand for swordfish plateaus, while landings and imports decline

摘要

Fall is prime time in the Northeast for fresh swordfish - big ones with peak fat content after a summer of gorging on smaller fish on the Grand Banks. This is when buyers look to Boston and pay top dollar for the swordfish fleet's harvest. This seasonal buying practice is routine for small wholesalers and independent restaurant owners, while large-scale distributors rely mostly on imports. That's partly because today the sword market in New England bears scant resemblance to its salad days two decades ago. There's a good chance that even the fish available from Boston purveyors is imported.