KEY POINTS:
Kiwis with a liking for fish are having to pay for it - prices are now twice that of steak and chicken.
While most fish stocks are in good shape, bad weather coupled with quota limits and high demand has sent fish prices soaring.
Some popular types of
fish, such as snapper, are up 40 per cent on the same time last year.
Supermarkets and fish markets around the country are selling blue cod and snapper for about $36 a kilogram, double the price of chicken, lamb and most top quality steak. At some speciality fish shops you'll pay even more for snapper - $60 a kilogram in some cases.
Hoki at up to $9.99kg has largely remained unaffected by recent price rises, but the price of terakihi - another Kiwi staple - has risen $3 to $23.95kg since January, and there are no guarantees the price won't rise again soon.
For restaurants, the rise in the price of fish has been tough to absorb in what is traditionally a slow part of the year.
Jimmy Gerard, of Auckland's Harbourside Seafood Bar and Grill, estimated it was paying 40 per cent more for snapper than last year.
At Fishmart, prices had gone up by an average of $6kg since January.
Spokesman Marco Koush said: "The big hike came about two months ago. It's a supply and demand game. Everyone still wants to eat it but you can't get much."
A week ago, Koush was buying snapper wholesale on the auction floor for $6, and three days ago he was paying $10 a fish. "That's very expensive."
But that said, it was unrealistic to expect customers to pay any more than they were now for snapper, currently selling at $35.95 a kilo. "We couldn't go any higher," he said.
New Zealand Seafood Retailers' and Wholesalers' Association chairman Mike Laird said that price fluctuations were felt most at the local fish shop.
"It's the smaller fish retailers who have to go down to the markets, they are subject to the availability and supply of the auction," he said.
With six weeks' quota remaining, most species of fish had already been caught, which had affected availability.
"Shortages always occur at this time of year. Then you throw in the bad weather on top of that," said Laird.
Despite the current prices, Laird believed the price of fish was not high compared with world standards.
New Zealanders, he thought, were very blasé when it came to seafood, he said.
"New Zealanders see fish as expensive because we think we can go out and catch it, whereas we expect to pay more for other meats," said Laird. "We don't understand the economies of it. Australians pay double the price that we would pay.
"We perceive the value only on the dollar. Once you take out the gristle and bone, fish is the same or better value as meat.
"When you buy fish, you are not throwing anything away."
At Mangonui's famous Fish Shop in the Far North, snapper is off the menu until October.
The business has its own quota which had already been filled, said spokesman Alan Wright.
The bad weather up north had kept boats at wharves for a couple of days at a time, he said, affecting catches and the varieties of fish sold in his shop.
Retail prices, he said, were going up an average of 5 per cent a year at the shop.
And it's not only fish that has been affected - crayfish is also in short supply. There's been no lobster on the menu for the past week at Tauranga's Lobster Club, and when it does become available next week you will pay $100 for a whole lobster, or $55 for a half. Tails are still on the menu - but they're not going cheap either at $58 each.