Portugal Doesn’t Catch Cod. So Why Does the World Buy Its Bacalhau?

Here’s a riddle for seafood buyers: the country that consumes and processes more salted cod than any other hasn’t caught cod commercially for fifty years. Norway and Iceland catch the fish — and then ship a large share of it to Portugal. Why?

One Man, One Boat, One Line

Portuguese fishermen reached the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in 1497, and for the next four and a half centuries the Faina Maior — the Great Fishery — defined entire coastal towns. The method was extraordinary: each fisherman was lowered from the mother ship in a one-man wooden dory and spent the day alone in the North Atlantic fog, catching cod one hook at a time. The White Fleet, its ships painted white to be seen among icebergs, made its last great campaigns in the 1970s.

The Value Is in the Cure, Not the Catch

When the fishing ended, Portugal kept the part of the value chain that matters most: the cure. Salting cod the Portuguese way is not mere preservation — it is a slow enzymatic maturation. Over weeks in salt, the flesh firms, the characteristic flakes develop, and the flavour concentrates into something a fresh fillet can never deliver. Portuguese consumers famously call bacalhau their fiel amigo — faithful friend — and claim a different recipe for every day of the year.

This is why Portuguese cure commands a premium in Brazil, across Africa, in the Mediterranean and in ethnic markets worldwide: the raw material may be Norwegian or Icelandic, but the transformation — and the flavour — is Portuguese.

What This Means for Buyers

Mar Lusitano operates in Gafanha da Nazaré (Aveiro), the historic home port of the White Fleet and today the heart of the Portuguese cod industry. We apply the traditional cure with modern controls: MSC Chain of Custody, HACCP, US FDA registration and full lot traceability.

Learn more in our complete guide to salted cod, or see our processing and private label services.