01/31/2020- Ask any local and they’ll tell you there’s nothing quite like a Wisconsin fish fry, but one staple ingredient is becoming harder to come by and that’s putting a strain on restaurants serving up the Friday night favorite. Distributors and restaurants locally and across the region have been dealing with a shortage of yellow lake perch, forcing many of them to switch to offering European lake perch. Mike Parksinson, general manager of Blue Harbor Fish and Seafood says they only have about a third of their typical lake perch stock available and he blames a number of contributing factors, including some unintended consequences of restoration efforts.
Parksinson says the average customer likely won’t notice a difference between traditional yellow lake perch and the European perch, which is good because he doesn’t expect the shortage to end anytime soon.
Parkinson says customers can do their part to take the pressure off the regional perch population by opting to put another fish, like walleye, on their plate instead.