Fresh Fish

Caught in local waters and sold in a local market or directly from a boat to the consumer.

This is the freshest fish but volume is very low and you need to live near a local harbour in order to buy.  It is boat-caught and returned to shore within a day normally f and then sold fresh to you within 2 days of catching.

Fresh fish, which is caught and landed at main UK ports gets sold through the normal distribution chain. This is perceived as fresh fish but it can spend a long time within the food chain before it is sold fresh to you, the consumer, especially with modern chilling techniques.

Boat-caught, allowing sailing to fishing grounds of 3 days, fishing for 3-7 days and 3 days sailing to return to the port. Fish can be 10 days old by the time it reaches a harbour. Later it is sold at market, processed and distributed to the shops within 4 days. Then it is sold as fresh to the consumer up to 14 days (2 weeks old) after being caught, but can be longer depending on packaging and shelf life.

Chilled Fish

Chilled fish is often frozen fish, which has been defrosted and is then distributed through the chilled food chain. Follows the same chain as fresh and frozen fish. Predominantly frozen fish sold on the defrost. Sold chilled to the consumer.

We take your fish out of our freezers which run at -21°c. Our packers then assemble your order, placing them in thick polystyrene boxes. Slices of dry ice are added, the boxes are taped shut and finally shrink wrapped. The packages are put back in our freezer until the courier arrives between 2-3 pm each day. They are couriered overnight to their depots across the country and the following morning they are dispatched for delivery to your door. The dry ice which is much colder than your order at -60°c lasts about 24 hours, evaporating safely into thin air during that time. During this time your order will be maintained at less than -20°c ensuring that your order will be still completely frozen upon arrival. All you have to do is unpack it (being careful not to handle any of the dry ice packs that aren’t totally evaporated) and place it in your freezer.