Marine Conservation Society urges consumers to reduce purchases of hake and coley

If fishing authorities implement binding catch restrictions and retailers successfully shift consumer demand to genuinely sustainable alternatives, supply constraints on hake and coley could stabilize prices while reducing pressure on those stocks, though this would require coordinated policy action across multiple jurisdictions.

Absent regulatory intervention, continued fishing pressure on hake and coley would likely result in gradual price increases as stocks thin, with retailers absorbing some cost pressure while consumers migrate toward cheaper or more available species, creating modest churn in seafood sourcing without systemic disruption.

If stock declines accelerate and trigger emergency fishing bans or severe quota cuts, hake and coley prices could spike sharply, forcing retailers to rapidly substitute alternative species and potentially creating supply gaps in the white-fish segment that ripple across seafood pricing and availability.