Fish fry season begins with Lent, but higher seafood prices could hit wallets

(CNN/KDKA) — Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent, a season observed by many Christians, and for seafood lovers, it also signals the return of fish fry season.

Fish fries are especially popular on Fridays during Lent, when Catholics traditionally abstain from eating other kinds of meat. But this year, that fried favorite may come with a higher price tag.

In Pennsylvania at Nappies Food Service, a 30,000-square-foot freezer warehouse packed with frozen seafood, buyers say they have been preparing for months to meet demand across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland.

“Our warehouse is full of fish, as you’ve probably seen,” said Nick Napoleone, a partner and third-generation owner of the company. “We’ve been buying fish for the past few months. We have truckloads upon truckloads of fish.”

Cod, haddock, pollock and other seafood staples are in high demand for fish fries, but buyers say prices have risen sharply in recent years, especially for cod.

“The big thing going on right now is the price of it,” said Nappies buyer Danny Johnston. “It’s just kind of skyrocketed in the last couple of years because of the Russian war going on, and that’s where a lot of the frozen sea fish … is fished out of.”

Johnston said with limited availability from that region, more cod is now coming from places like Greenland and Canadian waters, leaving less supply to go around.

Unlike many other food products, fish prices can fluctuate heavily depending on catch quantities, weather and global events.

“Fish is definitely more expensive this year,” Napoleone said. “It’s a commodity item. We buy fish from all over the world — whether it’s Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic, the Pacific, the Atlantic, it just depends.”

Distributors say rising costs mean churches, clubs and community groups hosting fish fries may be charging more, not by choice, but because they are paying more themselves.

Still, demand remains strong.

“It will be mayhem,” Napoleone said. “It will be pallets full of fish leaving at all hours of the day.”

Fish fries have been a Lenten tradition for decades, and even with higher prices, many communities expect another busy season.