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Coast whitebait fetches $110 a kilogram

By SANDRA COX - The Press | Monday, 17 September 2007



SHORT SUPPLY: The early season price in Christchurch
shops for whitebait has gone up to $110 a kilogram.
The West Coast season has started slowly.
— SANDRA COX/The Press

Cold water is putting whitebait off swimming up West Coast rivers — and driving the early season price in Christchurch shops to $110 a kilogram.

The tiny delicacy is too dear for many Christchurch retailers and wholesalers, who rely on frozen stocks.

Angela Moore, co-owner of City Seafood Market, which supplies 40 Christchurch restaurants, said at $110 a kg fresh whitebait was too expensive for most people. City Seafood could only retail it for $10 a kg more than they bought it.

"We wouldn't make much on it at all and people aren't prepared to pay that at the moment.

"They'll just wait till the price comes down a bit."

Her customers were interested in prices around $80 a kg.

She said West Coast whitebait was preferred over Southland's, for its reputed better taste.

"I'm not usually a whitebait eater myself but all our customers say that they know the difference."



John Buchanan, head chef of Boulevard Restaurant and Bar on Oxford Terrace, says prices are double the amount Boulevard preferred to pay.

Prices were, in part, dictated by Auckland restaurants, where early season whitebait commanded highest prices."It's like oysters. When the new season strikes, even though they don't make money on it, they have to have it on the menu and it's the same with whitebait."

On the Coast, whitebaiters were not expecting catches to improve until warmer weather next month.

West Coast Whitebaiters Association president Jim Bushby said the poor start was because of cold sea temperatures and snow melting into rivers which kept the whitebait out at sea.

Few whitebaiters had brought home much more than a few kilograms a day.

"You just have to be in the right place at the right time but a lot of others round are getting nothing at all. It's very patchy."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4203951a24035.html


Connoisseurs snap up whitebait at $130 a kg

By GREER McDONALD and NZPA - The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 18 September 2007



Whitebait lovers are being battered by exorbitant prices after a slow start to the season.

Retail prices in Wellington have reached $130 a kilogram — for those who can find whitebait — but connoisseurs are prepared to pay a premium, retailers said yesterday.

A spokesman for Moore Wilson Fresh Market said customers were paying "Mickey Mouse money" to get their hands on whitebait, after prices topped $12.95 per 100 grams.

"We are sold out at the moment but expect more in today. It's literally running out the door."

The store's whitebait supply comes from the West Coast, where poor catch levels have been reported since the season started on September 01.

"There's not a lot around," West Coast Whitebaiters Association president Jim Bushby said from Greymouth yesterday.

"Rivers have been dirty for the last four or five days, which wouldn't help."

"It's been a fairly cold spring here and the water's still fairly cold. But tides are coming right and next month should see a bit of action, hopefully."

Mr Bushby said "good rain" in the past three or four days would have "got rid of a bit of snow up the back" and freshened the main whitebaiting rivers.

"There's been the odd kilogram caught here and there, but nothing really to write home about."

Christchurch-based Cascade Whitebait — New Zealand's main wholesale supplier — puts the scarcity down to a late season.

"It's the slowest start for a couple of seasons, but we're hoping it will pick up in the next couple of weeks," marketing manager Neville Cane said.

An informal survey of Christchurch retailers showed that prices were averaging $120 a kilogram.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4205156a6479.html


Huge price tag for rare wee delicacy

By LEIGHTON KEITH - Taranaki Daily News | Tuesday, 18 September 2007

Taranaki whitebait connoisseurs are prepared to pay top dollar for the delicacy.

The whitebaiting season started with a bang on August 15 then slowed, driving prices for a kilogram of the tiny fish to more than $100.

Locals can take some consolation in the fact their counterparts in the South Island are also having to pay top dollar, with cold water keeping whitebait from swimming up West Coast rivers.

Two years ago, whitebait prices in South Westland plummeted from $80 to $20/kg.

They are now paying up to $110/kg.

New Plymouth Department of Conservation officer Bryan Williams said some fishers had caught between 10kg and 12kg for the season.

"It started off with a hiss and a roar but it has died off a bit."

Mr Williams said most of Taranaki's rivers were fishing quite well and whitebaiters were getting their share but it had not been as good as last year.

"They are quite happy, but they are people who go out every day," he said.

Recent fine weather may have reduced catches with rivers running clear and smaller numbers of whitebait making their way up.

Mr Williams said rain was needed. "It puts a bit of water in (rivers) and encourages the whitebait to run up from the sea."

Mr Williams said the delicacy was selling for about $70/kg along the river.

Mokau Butchery owner Graham Putt had not heard of any big catches so far this season.

"You normally hear of something around but there has been nothing this year at all. It is pretty quiet. There is not much happening," Mr Putt said.

He was selling whitebait for $110/kg and people were happy to pay the price.

Whitebait Inn, Mokau, owner Jenny Marsden said there were a few whitebait around.

Mrs Marsden said they only sold whitebait through the cafe but wouldn't say how much they paid.

Cushla Healy, of Marinovich's Seafood Restaurant in New Plymouth, said she had made calls around the country trying to get hold of whitebait but there was not much on offer. Whitebait was retailing for $150/kg, she said.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dailynews/4205326a6554.html


Whitebaiters battle over best taste

By SARAH BEDFORD - The Southland Times | Tuesday, 18 September 2007



TAKING A STAND: Toss Tiplady reckons Southland whitebait
tastes better than that found on the West Coast.
— JILL McKEE/The Southland Times

Southland whitebaiters have jumped to the defence of the tiny delicacy in the south after a Christchurch fishmonger claimed West Coast whitebait taste better.

City Seafood Market co-owner Angela Moore said customers preferred West Coast whitebait to Southland's, for its reputed better taste. "I'm not usually a whitebait eater myself but all our customers say that they know the difference," the Cantabrian said.

However, whitebaiters on the Aparima River yesterday rebutted the claim and, although the little fish might sometimes be harder to come by in the region, it tasted just as good as any West Coast whitebait, they said.

Fred Orme has been whitebaiting since he was a child and had even done so on the West Coast. "There's no difference in the taste," he said.

West Coast whitebait were slightly bigger and were usually easier to come by, which could be why they were preferred by some, he said.

The best way to eat it, he said, was with more whitebait.

Toss Tiplady said while catches had been patchy so far this season, because of cold river water keeping the whitebait at bay, it was still well worth the wait.

"I reckon the Southland stuff is better than the West Coast's."

Phil MacAskill conceded that whitebait could taste different according to their species but he did not think West Coast whitebait tasted better.

"It's all in their imagination," he said.

Meanwhile, prices for whitebait have been driven up by a poor start to the season.

In Christchurch the early season price has reached $110 a kilogram but in the deep south it was a little cheaper.

Kings Fish Market owner Greg King said there had not been much whitebait available so far this season.

Prices at the store were $99/kg but that could change depending on how the season went, he said.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southlandtimes/4205266a6568.html