Let Your Boy Joey Explain it For You The Best Way I Know How- Through Pictures and Video
Heather Atwood has been looking for a lead for her upcoming story which you will be able to read in her Wednesday Column in The Gloucester Daily Times. So to help her sound like she somewhat knows what she’s talking about I was digging through the archives and found these posts from 2008 and sooner that many of our readers probably missed but are essential if you want to understand how fresh fish is distributed in Gloucester in modern times
Good Morning Gloucester 
Joey, do I understand it right that the fish we buy as individuals at Steve Connolly, Intershell, or Ocean Crest Markets are not through the auction – and only the big lots go through auction – or does everything go through the auction? I would think the fishermen get a better price selling direct to customers though the quantity is so much smaller, but is that true?
LikeLike
Fishermen could get a better price selling directly to consumers in small quantities but without wholesale distribution they would end up getting much much less money for their overall catch.
You see there is a place for wholesale and distribution because the amount of fish that gets landed by fishermen could never ever get consumed by the population that he or she could physically serve while still being a full time fisherman and not a distributor or wholesaler.
So if all the fishermen decided to try to serve the greater Boston area themselves and offload their own fish and grade it and deliver each different species to the exact customer who needs that particular species to return the best price back to them they would spend their entire day trying to maximize selling their fish and in turn would not be able to concentrate on whet they specialize at which is catching fish.
This is not to mention the fact that to get the best prices the fish needs to go all over the country and not just within driving distance. If all of the fish that got landed in Gloucester was to be sold only within driving distance there would be such an oversupply that the price of that fish would crash deeper than a 1929 stock market. this is why fishermen need wholesalers to market and diversify the places those fish get sold
LikeLike
Thanks Joey!
I was just wondering if the fish markets that we buy dinner at are fresh off the boat from the fishermen direct or if they have to go through the auction too. Makes sense that even we couldn’t eat up all that good fish and the auctions help streamline things so they can get out on the water and people everywhere can enjoy some good Gloucester fish!
I really enjoy this stuff! 😉
LikeLike
The fish you buy at local fish markets probably went through the auction as most of the fish that gets landed locally (not all but most) goes through that building. Pigeon Cove offloads boats at their dock but that fish mainly goes out of town and if I’m right they don’t have a local retail market.
LikeLike
A wonderful series; thanks for grouping them and posting them. Very interesting!
LikeLike
Pigeon Cove is a seafood processing facility owned by Whole Foods.
LikeLike
Joey: Great info regarding the Gloucester Seafood Auction. The first clip above mentions Louie Linquata and North Coast Seafood. Please note that North Coast is the #1 supplier (in the full service counter) to both Shaw’s and Stop & Shop in Gloucester. I am enjoy seafood bought from Connolly’s and Shaw’s … I’ve perused the goods at all other retail locations in town but tend to end up at these 2 spots.
LikeLike
Excellent information, Joey, well done! By the way, did you see the recent two page article in
Saveur Magazine (the Market Issue) about our
own Gloucester Seafood Auction? It was also
very informative, I’ve been passing it around to my friends, who also had no idea how this Auction
in our own back yard works. Once again, you have been out in front of the curve.
LikeLike
Didn’t see it but I’d love to.
LikeLike