Cod Almighty. Iceland-to-Pgh. connection strong in fish fry season

From parish halls to fire departments, fish at the center of one of the region’s most beloved traditions during Lent is hauled from icy waters around Iceland and the Faroe Islands and shipped thousands of miles before landing on a Styrofoam plate in West View or Deutschtown.

This year, those dinners may cost more amid the tight global fish supply.

The importance of fish fry revenue

In western Pennsylvania, fish from far-flung regions are a major fundraiser for churches and community organizations.

“It’s our second biggest fundraiser,” said William Morgan, office manager and junior vice commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3414 in Latrobe. The first biggest is a gun bash. “They literally run neck and neck. They both bring in about the same amount of money,” he said.

Fish fry revenue supports the organization’s operational costs and programs, including a free monthly breakfast for veterans year-round.

In the Catholic tradition, Lent is a 40-day season of preparation for Easter marked by prayer and fasting. Catholics abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent, which this year began Feb. 18 and ends April 2, a practice that has turned Friday fish fries into a regional staple.

Fish from far away

While the tradition feels hyperlocal, the supply chain isn’t. Much of the cod and haddock served at Pittsburgh-area fish fries comes from Massachusetts, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and even the Bering Sea – a global journey that now shapes prices, menus, and profits for a cherished Lenten ritual.

Cod is the most common fish used for Lent fish fries, followed by haddock, several organizers say.

Dave Eifler runs the fish fry at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Saint Teresa of Avila Campus, in West View. He hosts a taste test in December to determine that year’s fish fry fish.

For a few years in a row, the winner has been a frozen-at-sea Icelandic cod, sold by Nappies Food Service in Oakdale.

“Of course, it was the most expensive,” Eifler said, adding that he doesn’t compromise on quality.

Dinners this year are $16 and include a choice of entrées plus two sides – French fries, baked potato, macaroni and cheese, or coleslaw.

“We try to keep our prices as low as we possibly can, and still show a nice, decent profit,” Eifler said.

Fish prices jumping

But over the past 12 months, the price of cod has jumped, said Angelo Napoleone, owner of Nappies Food Service, which supplies Eifler with his fish.

Napoleone attributes the price hike to low fish stocks.

“The industry has changed a lot,” he said. “The inventory is depleted, so that is driving the prices extremely high.”

Low inventory has led governments to limit fishing. In Iceland, the cod quota for the 2025-26 fishing year is the lowest since 2013, according to a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Every year, Nappies goes through around 440,000 pounds of fish for Lent.

Nappies isn’t the only supplier of Icelandic cod. Allegheny Elks Lodge in Deutschtown on Pittsburgh’s North Side buys Icelandic cod from Robert Wholey & Co. Inc., said Alisha Crose, who runs the fish fries.

“It comes from Iceland, but we also source it from the Faroe Islands, which is between Norway and Iceland,” owner Jim Wholey said.

Wholey’s nor Nappies declined to identify their suppliers, saying the information is proprietary.

Penn Avenue Fish Co. owner Henry Dewey buys cod and haddock from Bergie’s Seafood in New Bedford, Mass.

Hannah Frances Johansson / PMP Newsroom via Reuters Connect

“The [fishing] boats pull up right alongside of our back door, and we unload from inside the building,” said Ron Pontbriand, sales manager for Bergie’s Seafood Inc.

Cod is fished about 100 miles off the shore, he said.

Penn Avenue Fish Co. does not supply fish fries on the scale of Nappies or Wholey’s, but sales increase by 50% around Lent, Dewey said. In addition, they sell house-made fried fish sandwiches.

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