URK – With the acquisition of Kraan’s Palinghandel, Quality Seafood from Urk is now by far the largest trader of eel from the IJsselmeer. Most of the eel is already delivered directly to this company.

Kraan’s Palinghandel is a traditional family business that has its origins dating back to 1890. It started with eel from the Braassemermeer in Oude Wetering. Until 2014, the Kraan family still had a large smokehouse on Urk where in addition to eel, salmon and trout were also smoked. In 2014, the company was sold to Leroy and Kraan’s operations were moved to Vishandel Klooster in Enkhuizen.

Bart Kraan and Klaas Tol were still active in the eel trade this year and rented a processing hall at Octopus aan het Stortemelk in Urk. Together with Quality Seafood they on Urk the largest buyers of IJsselmeerpaling.

Since this month, Quality Seafood has taken over the company and is thus the largest buyer of IJsselmeerpaling. Bart Kraan and Klaas Tol will remain employed, and the lease for the processing space has also been taken over. ”For us, that’s better, because that keeps the processing of salmon and trout separate, which is better for hygiene and quality,” said buyer Maarten Bakker.

Direct trade

Almost all the salmon are delivered directly to the trade outside the turnoff, and thus now mainly to Quality Seafood. Last Thursday afternoon the clock in Urk turned for just 25 pounds of salmon. No one else was to be seen in the fish hall, because everything was done via home purchases. The rest of the salmon is delivered directly to the trade. However, the financial handling of the salmon via The Urker IJsselmeervis outlet. The price is determined based on the price displayed on the clock, with direct trade bringing in two quarters more revenue.

According to Jelle Hakvoort (UK 238/UK 65), there are too few buyers in the market to do it by the clock. ”We therefore opt for certainty and it also brings some extra benefits.”

Another advantage is that the fishermen have a bit more leeway when unloading the fish, because they are not tied to the times when the clock runs. In addition, the fishermen can also unload on Saturdays.

Market forces

,”The IJsselmeervisafslag Urk would prefer to see all the eel pass through the safety net, but also realizes that this method is much more practical and the fee is also easily earned for the outlet. The supply of eel at the outlet and the auction via the clock would then be especially enjoyable for the tourists, but that is of secondary importance for us as traders," said Bakker, who now has the power to set the price for the eel as the largest buyer.

According to auction manager Iede Zieck, the thick-finned sturgeon last week sold for an average of 10.80 euros per kilo; the middle-sized one for 10.50 euros per kilo, and the normal sort for 7 euros per kilo. ”The fishermen would of course prefer to be paid more, but these are good prices. We as Quality Seafood are all in favor of keeping the sturgeon in stock, so that the fishermen have a profitable fishery. The demand for sturgeon is greater than the supply, but that demand is not always constant. That is also the danger if you let everything go on all the time. With a sudden influx, the price immediately drops, because we cannot process and dispose of all that sturgeon. Keeping it alive also has its limitations and some of that dies out as well. We therefore opt for more stability and price agreements. We know that we have the sturgeon and that the fisherman is assured of a good price,” said Bakker.

Abroad

The last-minute delivery has meant that small buyers have had to rely on Quality Seafood to buy their salmon. "These are often only small quantities, and often it's also hobby fishermen who want to have their own IJsbeek salmon in the ton.".

Quality Seafood does not smoke its own salmon and sells it fresh and frozen. ”Part of it goes to the fish market in the Netherlands, but most of the salmon goes to Germany and Latvia,” said Bakker.
We sell to all of Europe. From Portugal to Sweden, from Italy to Latvia.

New name

The 2 companies will continue under the new name: Maravea BV (this name comes from Latin and is a combination of Leven uit de Zee).

In addition to eel, Maravea also offers trout. Bart Kraan says: we have trout in 125 gram, 500 gram (4x125gr) sizes and we also have trout pieces.