Prices for local and imported fish are double or three times what they were a few years ago, according to some local retailers.
And recreational shore anglers have all but given up trying to catch the species, according to the head of the Sinkers Sea Fishing Club, Steve Mullins.
Sean Faulkner, owner of Faulkner Fisheries, has been in the industry for 40 years and says this is worst year he has ever known for mackerel fishing.
‘We haven’t had mackerel caught locally in weeks but it was selling for £8, £10 to £12 per kilo, whereas it would be down at between £3 and £6 a kilo a few years ago,’ said the 65-year-old.
‘It’s not just our waters. The prices are so high on fish we import that it’s evident there are problems elsewhere too. It might have been £1 or £2 a kilo five years ago but now we are looking at £4 or £5 a kilo or even as much as £5 to £10 a kilo.’
Mr Faulkner said catches of ‘wet fish’ were lower in general because of tough restrictions on landing bass, a high-value fish. He said species such as local grey mullet were harder to get for retailers because fishermen, who may catch them as a by-product of bass fishing, were not anymore because they were no longer on the hunt for bass.
Mass pelagic trawler fishing in the Atlantic or increased dolphin, seal and even bluefin tuna populations have all been blamed for the drop in mackerel. However, over the bank holiday weekend in Hastings, East Sussex fishermen local anglers were reporting bumper catches.
Some compared it to ‘shooting fish in barrel’, with anglers pulling in ‘six or seven’ with every cast. Some people, reports say, were even catching them in a bucket from the shore.
Louis Jackson, owner of the Fresh Fish Company, agreed it was the worst year he had known for mackerel in Jersey.
‘It has been quite scarce this year – the worst year I’ve known,’ he said. ‘As for the reasons why, I really don’t know.
‘When they appear it seems to be getting later and later in the year, almost into September and October now, and the numbers getting caught are not what they used to be.’
The firm is currently selling what local mackerel it can get hold of for £8 per kilo.
Steve Mullins, chairman of the Sinkers Sea Fishing Club, said anglers on boats were reporting sporadic successful trips but not in the same numbers they were in the past.
‘It is definitely one of the worst years I can ever remember. I am 60 now and first went fishing when I was five, and I was a commercial fisherman for 20 years. It’s just not worth going out anymore.
‘We normally get a couple of runs of mackerel a year – one in April and May and then one later in the year in August or September. We are seeing less and less every year.
‘The early run did not happen at all and some in boats are getting the odd fish but nothing on previous years. From a shore fisherman’s point of view we are getting nothing at all.
‘Some people think its to do with dolphins or seals or tuna. I personally think it’s due to pelagic trawlers in the Atlantic targeting winter breeding grounds. They’ve got bigger boats now and better technology.’
