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Hake:professional buying guide, season, size grades, line or trawl

European hake for the trade: season, EU size grades 1 to 5, French fish auctions (Saint-Jean-de-Luz first), line-caught hake, freshness, yield, substitutes.

Updated 6 min readLiveCriée editorial team

Contents
  1. Buying sheet
  2. Which hake size grade to choose?
  3. Line-caught or trawl-caught hake: what difference?
  4. How to judge freshness?
  5. Which pitfalls to avoid?
  6. What to replace hake with?
  7. What makes the price of hake move?
  8. Frequently asked questions

European hake (Merluccius merluccius), also sold in France under the name "colin", is a round fish with white, delicate flesh, caught by trawl, net, longline and line from Scotland to the Mediterranean; in France, Saint-Jean-de-Luz alone sells nearly a third of it at auction. "Merlu" and "colin" are both permitted trade names for this species; yet the word "colin" is also used in the trade for other fish.

Buying sheet

Hake
Scientific nameMerluccius merluccius
Peak seasonAll year round; largest landings from March to May (peak in April), low in September and in January and February
Closed seasonNo closure of its own; fishing under quotas. In the Bay of Biscay, vessels of 8 m and over working with gillnets or trammel nets, pelagic or pair trawls, or pelagic seines stay in port for one month in winter (from 22 January to 20 February from 2024 to 2026; in 2027, thirty consecutive days, chosen by each vessel owner between 15 January and 27 February 2027 and declared before 1 December 2026, or, failing a declaration, from 22 January to 20 February 2027; French order of 9 September 2026)
EU size grades1: 2.5 kg and over; 2: 1.2 to 2.5 kg; 3: 600 g to 1.2 kg; 4: 280 to 600 g; 5: 200 to 280 g (Mediterranean: 150 to 280 g)
Main French fish auctions (2024)8,829 t sold at auction. Saint-Jean-de-Luz 32%, Lorient 15%, Les Sables-d'Olonne 10%, Le Guilvinec 7%, La Rochelle 5%
OriginsNorth-East Atlantic (FAO area 27: Bay of Biscay, Celtic Sea, west of Scotland), Mediterranean (FAO area 37). Other hakes, imported frozen, are different species
Fishing methodsBottom trawl, gillnet, longline, line ("line-caught hake")
Yield50% as steaks, 30% as portioned suprêmes for a 2 to 3 kg hake (Seafish); 41% as skinless fillets (FAO)
StorageWhole, gutted, on melting ice (0 to 2 °C), without piling up: the flesh is fragile

National rhythm of auction sales (FranceAgriMer, 2024); it varies from one port to another. Size grades: Regulation (EC) No 2406/96, Annex II. Tonnage and shares calculated by the editorial team from the sales declared at French fish auctions in 2024 (FranceAgriMer, workbook published on 2 July 2026).

Which hake size grade to choose?

Size gradeWeightUse
4 and 5200 to 600 gwhole portion hake, frying
3600 g to 1.2 kgfillets, small cuts
21.2 to 2.5 kgsteaks, loins, portions
12.5 kg and overthick cuts and suprêmes

The yield changes with the cut: on a 2 to 3 kg hake, 50% as steaks but only 30% as trimmed suprêmes. For 150 g of suprême per plate, you need to buy 500 g of whole fish.

Line-caught or trawl-caught hake: what difference?

Hake has tender flesh, which bruises at the slightest knock. Caught by line or longline and handled one by one, it arrives whole, uncrushed, with intact skin: it is the product sought by Basque cooking and fine dining. Trawl or net-caught hake, caught in quantity, can be damaged by the weight of the catch. The mention of the gear ("hooks and lines") on the label tells you what you are buying. In 2024, the average auction price was €4.60/kg at Saint-Jean-de-Luz against €3.84/kg at Lorient (FranceAgriMer): before comparing two hake prices, check that they refer to the same gear and the same size grade.

How to judge freshness?

  • Silvery, shiny skin, fine scales still in place.
  • Bulging, clear eye; bright red gills. The inside of the mouth is naturally black: this is not a defect.
  • Firm flesh that springs back, intact belly, not burst.
  • Mild sea smell. Hake ages quickly: after two or three days, the flesh becomes soft and falls apart.

Which pitfalls to avoid?

  • The word "colin". Permitted for hake, it also appears in "colin d'Alaska" (Alaska pollock), which is another species. The scientific name decides.
  • Imported hakes. Argentine hake, Cape hake, Pacific hake: other species of the genus Merluccius, often frozen. They are not fraud, but not the same product.
  • Tired flesh. A poorly iced or piled-up hake arrives soft: refuse it on delivery (see managing deliveries well).
  • Parasites. Hake is one of the sea fish most often carrying anisakis larvae, mainly in the abdominal cavity (about 9 hake out of 10 in older French surveys, according to ANSES). Quick gutting and trimming of the fillets reduce the risk; cooking for at least one minute at 60 °C at the core kills the larvae. For hake served raw or marinated, prior freezing is mandatory (Regulation (EC) 853/2004).

What to replace hake with?

UseSubstitute
Loin, portionPollack, cod, haddock
Bistro dish, low priceSaithe, whiting
Hake in green sauce, Basque cookingLarge trawl-caught hake, if no line-caught is available

What makes the price of hake move?

Average first-sale price at auction, France, 2024Hake
Yearly averageabout €4.40/kg
Cheapest monthMarch: about €3.20/kg
Most expensive monthSeptember: about €6.10/kg
Spread between auctionsfrom €3.80/kg (Le Guilvinec) to €4.60/kg (Saint-Jean-de-Luz)

Year 2024, all French fish auctions: average first-sale price at the auction hall (FranceAgriMer, sales declared at fish auctions, workbook published on 2 July 2026). Spread between auctions: among those handling at least 5% of hake volumes. The auction price is not the price paid to the fish merchant: processing, transport and margin are added to it.

The price of hake moves against its landings. From March to May 2024, the auctions sold 1,070 to 1,300 t of it a month, at €3.20 to €3.70/kg; in September, the weakest month (427 t), the price almost doubled compared with March. January and February, also quiet (450 to 520 t), sold at between €4.60 and €5.10/kg. 2025 confirms this profile: March remains the cheapest month, September the most expensive. The spread between auctions is moderate, and the workbook distinguishes neither gear nor size: the price at Saint-Jean-de-Luz, the most expensive of the large auctions, can only be compared with that of Lorient or Le Guilvinec at equal gear and size grade.

  • The season: in 2024, the average auction price was at its lowest in spring, at the height of landings, and at its highest in September.
  • The fishing method: line and longline above trawl and net.
  • The size: large hake sell for more per kilo.
  • The winter closures in the Bay of Biscay.

Frequently asked questions

Are merlu and colin the same fish?

Yes: "colin" is a permitted trade name for European hake. But the word also appears in the names of other species, such as Alaska pollock (colin d'Alaska). The scientific name, Merluccius merluccius, removes any doubt.

When is hake in season?

Hake is fished all year round. Landings are largest from March to May, when it is also cheapest, and smallest in September and at the start of the year.

What is the price of hake?

In 2024, about €4.40/kg on average at first sale in French fish auctions, from about €3.20/kg in March to about €6.10/kg in September (FranceAgriMer). The price paid to the fish merchant adds processing, transport and margin.

What is line-caught hake?

A hake caught by line or longline, one fish at a time, which arrives intact. Saint-Jean-de-Luz is its main fish auction. The gear "hooks and lines" must appear on the label.

What is the yield of hake?

For a 2 to 3 kg hake, about 50% as steaks and 30% as portioned suprêmes (Seafish); about 41% as skinless fillets according to the FAO.

Sources

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