As we are moving into October, the weather is steadily becoming colder and windier. The colder temperatures mean that the quality of the shellfish is improving week by week. However, this comes at a cost. The poorer weather means that there are less fishing days in the month so volumes of shellfish fished are also decreasing.
Blue Lobster (Homarus gammarus). Several companies have now turned on their long term storage tanks for Christmas. As there is very little lobster caught in December, product for the Christmas market needs to be caught in the autumn and stored. This has the effect of increasing prices as significant volumes are removed from the market. Availablility has also decreased in larger sizes as it is becoming more difficult to fish further off shore due to weather.
Brown Crab (Cancer pagurus). The females are slowly now beginning to harden. During the breeding season, they are soft and weak, making them particularly difficult to ship live. The males on the other hand tend to be much stronger during this period. Demand for brown crab has increased significantly over the last few years and prices have remained stubbornly high all summer.
Live langoustine (Nephrops norvegicus). As the green sack progressively disappears and temperatures cool, the quality of the langoustine is also improving. Langoustine is a more fragile product to ship than lobster but during the autumn and winter, the product hardens up and it can be transported more successfully around Europe and beyond. Volumes (and prices) on the market change daily as the product is highly weather sensitive.
Razor Clam (Ensis siliqua). As the razor clams are hand diver caught, they are highly sensitive to weather conditions. During the summer months, spells of good weather led to a glut on the market. However, as we settle into autumn, the volumes fished reduce significantly and supply is at a premium.