Fresh whole halibut are going for $18.99 a pound, while fresh halibut fillets are $29.99 a pound this week at Pike Place Fish Market. In Anchorage, fishmongers at New Sagaya were offering five pounds of fresh halibut fillets for $185.95, about $37 a pound. Online seafood purveyor FishEx had those fresh halibut fillets for $46.95 a pound.
Meanwhile Alaska seafood restaurants added creative fresh halibut fillet entrees to their menus at prices ranging from $32 to $38 a plate.
Offerings ranged from fresh Alaska halibut with bok choy, bacon, grape tomatoes and pineapple soy sherry for $36.95 at Orso in Anchorage to grilled halibut on pan fried potatoes, spinach, Portobello mushrooms, onions, apples, grape tomatoes and asparagus with balsamic glaze for $32.95 at the historic Pumphouse in Fairbanks. At Hangar on the Wharf in Juneau, cups of halibut chowder go for $7.99, and bowls sell for $9.99, while wild Alaska halibut grilled with a macadamia nut crust, served with pineapple curry and vegetables is $32.99.
“The opener got off to a rough start for harvesters on March 15, with 22-foot seas and 50 knot winds, but then the weather improved for several days, allowing some fishermen to get out and back with their catch in one day,” said Linda Behnken, a veteran halibut harvester and executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association in Sitka.
Processors were reportedly offering $6 a pound for the commercial harvest catch.