Fresh fish
Each year, Hollandse Visveiling IJmuiden B.V. (an auction operating company of Zeehaven IJmuiden N.V.) receives over fifteen million kilos of flat and round fish (including plaice, sole, turbot, red mullet, gurnard and cod), generating an annual revenue of about EUR 60 million. This gives IJmuiden a market share of almost twenty-five per cent of the Dutch fish auction sector, making it the second largest of the Netherlands’ eleven fish auctions after Urk.
Quality
Under the direction of the Netherlands Organisation of Fish Auctions (NOVA), the responsibility for inspecting compliance with commercial standards was taken over from the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) starting in 2018. The new inspection system is operating satisfactorily. Our staff are specially trained to perform the first-line compliance checks and determine the quality of the fish landed
Stichting Noordzeevis
The Port of IJmuiden largely owes its expansion to the supply of fish from the North Sea. Hollandse Visveiling IJmuiden B.V., part of Zeehaven IJmuiden N.V., is the second-largest auction in the Netherlands after Urk. A substantial portion of the freshly caught North Sea fish goes directly abroad, as fish consumption is much higher in South Europe than in the Netherlands.
But things are changing: Dutch consumers are also increasingly aware of the need to move towards a more sustainable world and are keen to reduce their carbon footprint by eating fresh and locally sourced seasonal produce. Together with the Fish Promotion Agency, the fishing companies in IJmuiden want to help more Dutch people discover sustainable North Sea fish. This led to the creation of Stichting Noordzeevis uit IJmuiden, a foundation that aims to promote the consumption of North Sea fish species such as brill, mackerel, plaice, turbot, sole and whiting (and various by-catch species) among Dutch consumers. The foundation published a book in 2018 to promote its work.