STT - Where to buy fresh fish?

There are several options on the East end. Most mornings a local fisherman sells fresh catch out of his pickup on the Smith Bay Road on the corner of the Coki Beach road. He sells smaller fish such as snapper, ol' wife, grunt, etc. The fishing charters out of Sapphire marina go out for mahi, etc. and come in in the afternoon and sell catch right there on the dock; likewise there are a couple out at American Yacht Harbor in Red Hook who do the same. The restaurant "Fish Tails" in Red Hook also sells fresh catch they buy in turn from the local fishermen. That's a start, anyway!

You are asking the wrong people if that's the response you're getting. In addition to the places mentioned by previous poster, there is often someone selling fish near Ft Mylner. Usually on Saturdays there's someone selling fish on the Waterfront down near First Bank. There are also guys selling fish at the Market Square on Saturdays.

There may be other places, too. Check G&D Seafood in Subbase (phone book).

Where do you buy fresh fish on the island of st croix STX?????

You can also always check at the AYH marina docks when the sportfishing boats come in at the end of the day.

G&D Seafood in Subbase.....closed. If the one you are referencing was between Doctor's Choice and Pueblo in that strip that also had the screen (SunRay) place which also is closed. Both stores are vacant now - and we will miss both businesses.

There is also the fish market in Frenchtown at the seawall where the Kon Tiki ties up. Though, they do import quite a lot of their seafood and I'm not sure how much they sell is really caught locally.

on STX there are a bunch of local fishermen selling everything from lobster to mahi, tuna,wahoo, snapper,grouper and others on saturday mornings early around 7 a.m. at the fresh market at la reine. also a couple there during the week. also many locals selling their daily catch on the main road opposite k mart west, opposite cost u less and scattered in between all days but sunday around the midday hours. cost of most catch is $7 per pound. there is people there also to clean the fish for a couple bucks. we go to a local fisherman just down the road and opposite from metro ford near orange grove area, good guy, fresh daily, gets there around 11.30 a.m.

The OP did specify STT.

Because of cigutera. I HIGHLY advise against the smith bay fish. I wouldn't buy the ones near TUTU either. A friend got a really nasty case of ciguatera from smith bay truck fish. Not to mention its smells terrible, fresh fish shouldn't smell like anything. Rick at swashbuckling tours does inland fishing and always gets good stuff, book a trip, it's fun! Also I hear red hook in the morning often has fisherman unloading. Never tried Sapphire but I assume they fish pretty far out which is good. If u don't feel like cooking, Hull bay hideaway always has a fresh fish sandwich. I literally just had a fresh grouper sandwich for $12. It was delish with jalepeno tartar! I've never been dissapointed with fish tails fresh fish either. Actually fish tails is really a great place albeit a little pricy for this tour guide 🙂 The only place I've bough fish from other than hull bay was mahi mahi and it was over in bovoni by the horse track. I thought that was pretty brave lol.

I spearfish for my dinners sometimes and even I, catching on the northside am always a bit nervous about getting sick. I usually stay away from very large grouper and very large tellowtail. Mahi from northside is usually pretty safe... Well at least no recorded cases, as is the bigger tunas but really it's all a gamble. I do my best to only eat fish from northside and as much as I can from north drop. Ive heard old wife is good but I've only seen ONE in our waters and refuse to eat a fish that I rarely see, clearly it's overfished. Especially considering I'm in the water about 300 days a year.

I did see a rare Nassau grouper last week which was exciting. Of course no eating them!

Because of cigutera. I HIGHLY advise against the smith bay fish. I wouldn't buy the ones near TUTU either. A friend got a really nasty case of ciguatera from smith bay truck fish. Not to mention its smells terrible, fresh fish shouldn't smell like anything.!

I bought from them several times over many years and never got sick nor smelled anything "fishy". You can contract ciguatera from any reef fish caught anywhere around the island and I personally know a handful of lifetime Frenchie fishermen who've had it.

You will get it only if you eat the fish regularly. The ciquatera toxins builds in your body and that last fish you ate will send it over the top. Rarely will you get it from one fish. If you filet the fish, it lessens the chance as the toxin is in the bones and closer to the head. As it was explained to me from a man from the USDA that was here researching it for a few years.

Pot fish or reef fish are the ones that are main ciguatera concern. Ask Ronnie about Ole Wife... The pelagic fish like tuna, wahoo and mahi don't eat off the reef.

Ole Wife as Eastender mentioned actually are Queen Triggerfish aka Ale Wife but locals call dem Ol' Wife. Beautiful in the water!
Their numbers are in sharp decline due to over-fishing as they are/were a very popular eating fish due to the fact that they are easy to get off the bone and you're not constantly picking tiny, almost invisible bones out of the flesh like with yellow-tail snapper. The cheeks are so sweet! Haven't had that in a long time and no longer see a prevalence of them on menus these days.

Sorry to hear G&D closed! Haven't been that way in a few months, so wasn't aware. I'll have to ask around to see if hopefully they're relocating. Hope!

I'm not in the water quite as much as A&A, but I used to see more Olewife/Queen Triggerfish, now I hardly ever see them. IMHO they've definitely been overfished and should be protected. Hope they could be brought back to healthy numbers they are both beautiful and make a delicious meal.

Ronnie you have it a little backwards. It's not the HUMAN that gets sick as they eat more infected fish but the concentration in the fish themselves, as it eats more of the toxic Dinoflaggelates the fish has higher concentration, and then when a predatory fish eats these highly infected fish they take on the toxin. The more infected fish they eat the higher the concentration of toxins they accumulate. Hence why barracudas are at a very high risk as well as large groupers and other large predators as they are eating all reef fish which can be infected, increasing potency in their flesh and organs. Mose tuna, mahi and the similar don't eat reef fish but bait fish who live in the open ocean like EE mentioned. You can, if you've never eaten a fish before get ciguatera from one fish of high concentration of the toxin.

Seriously OT?? Not fishy??? I know I have a more than normal sensitive nose but I drive by 5 days a week taking people to Coki to dive and snorkel and it always reaks of fish. Eat it up if ya want but I'm not going to. You know the coconut guy that sells coconuts right there, Daniel I think is his name, ask him about his poisoning that he got from those guys right there too. BTW I HIGHLY recommend his coconuts. I get one every time I'm in the area. He has the best ones on island... Ice cold and sweet! (Insert obvious joke here)

Never said northside was exempt but it seems in my asking people and research from when I moved here that it is less likely. Internet sources seem to not mention "Atlantic" much but instead, Caribbean and South Pacific. No doubt there are Dinoflaggelates present and maybe even the ones that cause cigutera. Perhaps it's because most fisherman fish at north drop which is cooler waters and not dead reef - as opposed to warmer water and dead reefs, where these dinoflagates prefer to live. Met a guy tonight at hull bay that just got over it, I asked him what he ate and he said barracuda!?!? I was always told while living here that's a big no no and one of the highest reported cases.... that, bar jacks and large grouper.

I have only seen THREE queen triggerfish since I moved here. My second Nassau grouper ever yesterday.

Sorry A and A, it was the way described to me by the researcher that came down form the Food and Drug Administration about the accumulation of the toxin in your body. I agree that the fish do have it in their body does build up. Their explanation concurs with when you have several people eat from the same fish, only one or two may get sick and the others don't. Every year they came down here and would catch about 800 pounds of fish from all parts of the island and take it back up to their lab to test. In the 800 pounds he said they could hardly get enough toxin to put on a microscope slide to analyze. He also said the toxin exists in the bone and closer to the head so a filleted fish would not have as much as a whole fish as we islanders tend to eat. The toxin build up in your body goes away in 6 months. They tell you not to eat fish for that period to be safe.That's how I understand it.

Now as far as G & D Seafood, they are still very open and have even expanded their space into the GlassRay's space that was closed. Donna (D) told me so herself last night.

Our islands have been over-fished. Having the lionfish infestations doesn't help their populations recover. I have friends that go out for fish and lobster so I tend to buy from them since they have been fishing forever and I trust their judgement.

I have eaten local fish here all my life and never been sick. I have had friends that have gotten deathly ill and no longer will eat any type of fish.

I will check out g & d, to see what they offer. Thanks for the info about them.