There is an abundance of seafood on the pier.
The one-meter-long mackerel sold quickly. Photo by Yu Bo
At 12 o'clock today, Qingdao entered the marine off-season fishing period, which also means that this year's freshly landed spring mackerel officially "ended". Compared with the same period last year, the price of spring mackerel this year has dropped by about 10 yuan per catty, and the lowest point has even reached 16 yuan per catty. Therefore, some netizens laughed that due to the lack of sons-in-law, the price of mackerel fell. On April 30, the reporter went to Jimiya Wharf, Buxi Market and Jiaozhou Bay Seafood Wholesale Market in Qingdao West Coast New Area in three ways to visit the most cost-effective mackerel in recent years......
In the current season, mackerel is "thin" and the price is not thin
At 7:30 in the morning, the reporter came to the Buxi Seafood Wholesale Market, and a basket of silver and fresh mackerel came into view. Almost every seafood stall has a dedicated area for the day's fresh mackerel. At a stall, a citizen selected a 16-pound mackerel, and he told reporters that he bought it as a gift for relatives. At another stall, Boss Wang, who is nearly sixty years old, told reporters while busy helping customers pick up goods that this year's mackerel is about ten yuan cheaper per catty than in the same period last year, "The big mackerel of more than 12 catties is only 300 yuan, and I can't even buy ten catties at this time last year." The reporter visited more than a dozen stalls selling mackerel in the Buxi Seafood Wholesale Market and learned that the price of mackerel is about 20 to 25 yuan. Ms. Tang, the stall owner, remains optimistic about the mackerel market, "Although the price is not high this year, as long as the mackerel is fresh enough, we will not worry about selling it." ”
In the Jiaozhou Bay Seafood Wholesale Market, merchants wholesale boxes of mackerel and ship them to the surrounding seafood markets, and some of them are sold to individual customers. Ms. Sun, who has been working in the market for 11 years, introduced that the "highlight moment" of mackerel this year appeared during the Qingming Festival holiday, and the price reached 50 yuan per catty, but with the end of the holiday, the price began to gradually fall, and now it is stable at 16 yuan to 18 yuan per catty. Liu Guangxing, director of the Jiaozhou Bay Seafood Wholesale Market Management Institute, said that the total sales volume of spring mackerel in the market last year is expected to reach 500 tons, and the total sales volume should decline this year. With the advent of the fishing moratorium, each merchant can now reserve about one ton of frozen farmed fish, and the supply of "ice goods" is sufficient, and the price in the future is basically the same as now.
There are many fish catches, and there are many "competitors" of seafood
At about 10 o'clock yesterday morning, the reporter came to Jimiya Wharf in Qingdao West Coast New Area, although the morning market time has passed, but the wharf is still lively. Whenever a fishing boat docks, citizens and wholesalers waiting to buy seafood quickly gather there. "Mackerel is 26 yuan per catty, each is about 15 catties, if you want to buy it, you have to wait, these are sold. As soon as a fishing boat docked, the owner on the shore told reporters that all eight mackerel in the basket had been sold out, and a wholesaler called the boat boss early to order.
Although mackerel attracts the most attention in season, there are many seafood varieties available for consumers to choose from at the terminal. More than a dozen baskets are placed in front of a fishing boat, containing yellow croaker, sea bass, tongue fish, blackhead fish, boss fish, goby, etc. Among them, the price of blackhead fish is the highest, which is 50 yuan/jin, the large yellow croaker is 35 yuan/jin, the boss fish is 30 yuan/jin, the sea bass is 23 yuan/jin, and the goby is divided into two grades: 30 yuan/jin and 50 yuan/jin. "How about 30 yuan a catty, I want this basket of yellow croaker. Zhou Ling, who lives on Jialing Jiangdong Road, deliberately pulled a small cart to "stockpile" seafood, she told reporters that because there is a little grandson at home, she will come to the dock every year before May Day to buy more seafood and put it in the refrigerator to eat slowly. Mr. Lin, a citizen, came to the West Coast New Area to do business, and came to Jimiya Wharf to "stockpile" seafood, bought two mackerel and then bought eight strips, tongue fish, etc., and spent more than 400 yuan to buy four bags of seafood before he was satisfied and ready to go home. He said with a smile that the price of seafood this year is very cost-effective, and the mackerel for the old man was delivered before the Qingming Festival, this time to buy some fresh seafood before the fishing moratorium, and the family quickly ate it with a penny.
High output, many choices, and difficult price to "raise head"
"The price of mackerel this year is really not high, this is a price that has not been seen in the past three or four years. At Jimiya Wharf, the reporter met Boss Wang, who was running a seafood business, and he was carrying a large mackerel that was one meter long and weighed about 23 catties to be packed, "Such a big mackerel is only 500 yuan, if you can't buy it last year." Boss Wang introduced that the price of mackerel on the wharf in the same period last year was 35 yuan, and the price of good quality was higher, but this year's price was difficult to cross the threshold of 30 yuan, and even fell below 20 yuan, and the lowest day dropped to 16 yuan / catty. Although the price did not meet expectations, more than a dozen fishing boats rented by Boss Wang still left the port as usual, and the main harvest in the last two days was noodle fish. Compared with last year, this year's weather, water temperature and other factors have affected the production of mackerel, coupled with many types of seafood, the public's consumption concept has changed, resulting in the price of spring mackerel.
"The fishing moratorium on May 1 is the first day of the holiday, and our fishing boats will return to port, and the price will increase slightly, but not too much. Boss Wang said. There are still many fishing boats at the wharf in preparation for the last boat before the fishing moratorium, Xu Min, the boat boss from Jiaozhou, is sorting out the fishing nets with 7 men, each fishing net is 18 meters long, the main fishing is mackerel, planning to go to sea at 3 p.m. that day, and return to the Yinghai Wharf before noon the next day. Xu Min told reporters that the mackerel brought back every time they go to sea is more than 2,000 catties at most, and the occasional harvest is not ideal, although the price is not as good as last year, but there is no need to worry about the market, and it is generally sold out quickly when it goes ashore.
Mackerel sent 60,000 tickets nationwide in April
On social networking sites, Qingdao's spring mackerel is packaged as a "mackerel gift", which is quite popular with online shoppers. The stores promise to deliver the goods within 48 hours, and the fastest will be delivered the next day through SF Express. On the opening day of this year's Shazikou Mackerel Festival, Qingdao SF Express announced a set of big data on mackerel express delivery. Last year alone, a total of 100,000 tickets for mackerel were sent through Qingdao SF Express, of which 60% were fresh mackerel, 20% were mackerel filling, and the rest were frozen mackerel, smoked mackerel and other products. On this express list, Beijing became the "top of the list", followed by Jinan and Qingdao. Among them, Beijing, Shanghai, and Jinan are "heavy lovers" of mackerel filling, and mackerel balls and mackerel dumplings are frequent guests at their tables. Mackerel followed SF to Xinjiang, Tibet and Hainan, where diners in Xinjiang received 80% of fresh mackerel, while Tibet received 75% of mackerel filling, and Hainan divided "love" equally between the two.
According to the latest data learned by the reporter from Qingdao SF Express, since April, Qingdao SF Express has sent 60,000 tickets for mackerel, of which fresh mackerel accounts for 70%. It is worth noting that the total order volume increased by nearly three percent year-on-year. In terms of the destinations of Mackerel SF Express, the top five cities are Beijing, Jinan, Qingdao, Tianjin, and Shanghai. It is reported that this year, Qingdao SF Express has added a vacuum extraction service for mackerel segments in the packaging. In addition to the traditional packaging method of whole mackerel, diners can also enjoy the service of processing and segmentation first, and then vacuum shipping. In terms of timeliness, SF Express has also added time-limited delivery and half-day delivery services for Bayu. Most cities in the country can reach in 8 hours at the earliest, and the city can arrive in 6 hours at the earliest.
Guanhai News/Qingdao Evening News/Pocket Qingdao Reporter Yu Bo, Xuanliru, Yang Qiaoyu
■ Tips
Unlock how to eat mackerel
Stewed mackerel is the most "fresh"
Among the practices of Qingdao locals for mackerel, the most "fresh" method is stewed mackerel, which is the first choice for tasting the deliciousness of mackerel. After buying fresh mackerel, simply wash it, add water and fresh seasonings such as bean paste, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, cooking wine, etc., and simmer it. Mackerel dumplings are also popular among Qingdao people and are a popular staple food on the New Year's table. Pan-fried mackerel is the signature dish of many restaurants, the head and tail of the mackerel are removed, the fish body is sliced, coated in flour, and fried on low heat until golden brown on both sides, it tastes crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the taste is quite good. When cooking, be sure to stir the minced fish in one direction, and slowly add water or pepper water to make it fully absorbed and viscous, so that the fish balls will have good elasticity and chewiness. Although the meat of mackerel is delicious, many netizens have reported that it tastes very fishy. The reporter searched the secrets of several Qingdao chefs in the island city and found that before the fish is put into the pot, an appropriate amount of cooking wine and white pepper should be smeared on the mackerel, and it should be marinated for about 20 minutes, which can have a good fishy effect. After marinating, wipe the water on the surface of the fish and fry the mackerel in flour, so that the fishy smell will be reduced a lot.
Guanhai News/Qingdao Evening News/Pocket Qingdao Reporter Yu Bo, Xuanliru, Yang Qiaoyu
■Talk to the boss of the sand mouth boat
Go to sea in the morning and dock in the early morning
A maximum of 10,000 catties can be caught in one boat
Recently, at two or three o'clock in the morning every day, the central fishing port of Shazikou in Laoshan is brightly lit, and tens of thousands of catties of fresh local mackerel are snapped up by traders in three or four hours. "My two big boats, from eight or nine o'clock in the morning to the shore, two or three o'clock in the morning, can catch 10,000 catties at a time, today is the last trip before the closure of the sea. Xu Fanglong, the captain of the fishing port, told reporters that the water temperature was low in early April this year, and his boat caught four or five thousand catties in one trip, and it could reach 10,000 catties after the middle of the year, and the catch of mackerel in the whole Shazikou central fishing port in one day was about 50,000 or 60,000 catties, and the number was about the same as last year, but this year's mackerel price "dived", and the current wholesale price of a catty was 22-23 yuan, which was about 10 yuan lower than the same period last year. Due to the exceptionally favorable price of mackerel in late April this year, many citizens rushed to buy it before the closure of the sea and stored it in the refrigerator to eat.
Guanhai News/Qingdao Evening News/Pocket Qingdao Reporter Zhang Yixin