Lakeshore Fish Market Experiencing Perch Shortage

Rumors have been floating around lately about a shortage of perch, which would affect the local fish fries. We called up Mike Leclair, the Vice President of Suzie Q’s Fish Market in Two Rivers, and he confirmed the rumors to be true. He said that the main problem is that the fishermen on Lake Erie are not catching nearly as many as they used to. Leclair says they usually produce between a million to a million and a half pounds of perch every year, but “this year they are right down to nothing.” We asked Leclair if this shortage could possibly affect restaurants that planned to have a fish fry in the near future and he put it bluntly, saying “Oh yeah. Big time.” Suzie Q’s does have enough on hand to handle the local restaurants and taverns that they have deals with, but that’s about it. This shortage has been a problem all summer, according to LeClair, but now the back stocked freezers are starting to run empty. One thing some restaurants are trying is using Zander Perch, which come from Europe, but Leclair says that the flavor is nowhere near that of the yellow perch that people are used to. It is not clear when this shortage could be rectified.