Hard to find fresh fish - most of it is defrosted. Like this all over the UK?

[ParentOfOne]

I have noticed that most fish found at supermarkets is not fresh but defrosted.
It's not a matter of budget: Lidl, Aldi, Tesco, Sainsbury and even Waitrose all have mostly defrosted fish. Even at the fish counter at Waitrose most of it is actually defrosted!

Is it like this everywhere in the country, or just in London?

At this point I wonder if I should just buy frozen fish at Iceland.

Is my recollection wrong or till a few years ago it didn't use to be like this?

I wonder if it's to do with fishing becoming harder after Brexit, or if it's something similar to shrinkflation: instead of increasing the price of fresh fish they sell it frozen?

Unless you live very close to where boats land , fish is better frozen at sea than spending a day being driven to a store

It's hard to find a good fishmonger these days. The supermarkets in my area used to have fresh fish counters but no longer. I buy mine frozen now as, at least, it will last.

We are on an island, not a landlocked country!
And it didn't use to be like this.

In London, Billingsgate market will close in 2028 but should still have a couple of years to go

Mostly frozen, yes OP. We are an island, but fish isn't landed commercially in many places.

I buy frozen fish. It's less expensive. I can control defrosting, remove any excess water and cook immediately.

I rarely buy fish any more. It's too expensive and many fishing stocks are heavily depleted from over fishing.

The best fish caught in British waters is sold abroad.

We rarely buy fish in The UK, its just not fresh enough most of the time

This - most fish is frozen as soon as it is caught, on the boats, these days. And caught miles out from shore so doesn’t return to land for a while. Fishing boats are like floating fish processing factories.

If you want fresh fish you need to buy it off the quayside from a small-scale fishing boat, not a massive offshore trawler. But that doesn’t really happen in many ports in the UK any more.

I buy mackeral or trout,seldom frozen

Freezing fish kills the parasites (as does cooking).

Sashimi has been frozen before you eat it ‘fresh’ and raw.

You can see the prize tuna sold at markets in Japan solid as logs of wood - have a Google.

Frozen fish can still be very high quality (or it can be cardboardy crap).

But why didn't it use to be like this till a few years ago? THAT is the question

Probably cheaper to deal with and less wastage. A lot of Morrisons fish counter is fresh.

The website does say some has been defrosted but its done in controlled conditions so its safe to freeze again at home if that's your concern.

Because the boats didn’t used to be able to do it…

I worked on the fish counter in Waitrose in 1994/5 and even back then all the “fresh” fish had been previously frozen. If you want actually fresh fish, you need to buy from a fishmonger who buys from Billingsgate (or local coastal market depending on location). Nothing wrong with previously frozen fish though.

If you are in London, upper scale is very good and fresh (unless indicated otherwise!). They do reasonably priced next day delivery.

The reason for it largely being frozen is probably just a more efficient (ie cheaper) way to keep it on the shelves.

It was commonly done 20 years ago ( memory )

wasnt their adverts at the time about how much better quality fish you would get as a result ?

It’s ridiculous I agree considering we are an island!

Top restaurants must have access to quality fish! Where do they get it from?

I recently went on holiday to the west of Scotland and thought the variety of fresh fish available was pretty disappointing tbh. I had eaten much better the previous year in France and Spain sorry to say! And I was really looking forward to it as well.

I am not sure that the fish-freezing capabilities of our boats have changed so dramatically over just 5 years!

My comparison is not with decades ago, but with the pre-covid, pre-Brexit times, basically 5-6 years ago.

That's why I wonder if a combination of Brexit and higher cost of living may be the real explanation

I think you are right @ParentOfOne

I remember my mum complaining about this when I was a child... and I'm now in my 60s...

In London you need to find an “ethnic” fishmonger, don’t bother with the posh ones you will spend a fortune.

I find buying whole fish much better as well

I agree with you OP - it wasn't frozen a few years ago - I know because I remember buying a monkfish from Morrisons which had a very wriggling parasite in it!!

I suspect Brexit scuppered things - I know my nearest fish market complains a lot about Brexit (despite campaigning for it) and a lot of trawlers have been sold or scrapped.

Most of the fish caught in British waters is sold overseas as Brits tend to not want to eat those fishes, they prefer fish from other areas so yes it's generally frozen

I am not convinced. Have British consumers changed their preferences just after Brexit? That would be an odd coincidence...

It's always been the case nothing to do with Brexit We export seafood because Brits don't eat it in any great quantity no so we eat some of the other fish that is local to us in British waters we are a nation of cod eaters :)