« September 2006 Table of Contents 
Product Spotlight: Drum
A culinary fad decimated redfish stocks, leaving black drum and imports to fill the gap
By Linda Skinner
September 01, 2006
Drum, specifically red drum, was made famous in the 1980s
when New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme started the
blackened-redfish fad. That Cajun craze resulted in
overharvesting to the point of closing the Gulf of Mexico
fishery. Though slowly recovering, red drum is still classified
as "overfished."
National Marine Fisheries Service landings statistics pretty
well sum up the domestic drum story. In 1984, commercial
harvests of red drum, or redfish ( Sciaenops ocellatus ), were
4.8 million pounds. Then blackened redfish hit menus, and by
1986, fishermen had hauled in 14.5 million pounds. As diners
scarfed down the spicy fillets, harvests plunged to 5.2 million
pounds in 1987, then to 527,778 the next year. The total for
2004, the most recent data available, was just 73,427
pounds.
With red drum growing scarce, sourcing shifted to the more
plentiful, lower-priced black drum ( Pogonias cromis ), found
from Virginia to the northern Gulf of Mexico, though
restrictions on commercial fishing have tightened supplies of
this species as well. NMFS harvest data for black drum in the
1980s echo the redfish decline. Black drum landings rose from a
typical 6.1 million pounds in 1980 to nearly 11 million in
1987-88, when the red drum fishery went bust. By 2004, harvests
were back to a near-normal 5.8 million pounds.
North Carolina is the biggest domestic commercial producer
of red drum, at 54,117 pounds in 2004. Louisiana tops black
drum landings at 3.8 million pounds, followed by Texas at 1.7
million pounds. The majority of U.S. drum landings these days
are by sport fishermen.
Most red drum on the U.S. market is imported from Mexico,
Argentina, Ecuador and Central America. It is also farmed in
Texas, Louisiana, Taiwan and Ecuador.
Sold fresh and frozen; gutted, head-on or off; and as
fillets, skinless or skin-on, drum is seldom found beyond the
Southeast, except as a Cajun-style menu feature. "French
Quarter specialties" at Redfish Seafood Grill and Bar, a chain
based in Scottsdale, Ariz., with restaurants in Chandler,
Ariz., Chicago and Cincinnati, include the signature Blackened
Redfish, served with vegetable and fries, rice or sweet potato
fries for $15.49.
Closer to home, drum is featured at Ralph Brennan's Red Fish
Grill in New Orleans, one of the first restaurants in the city
to reopen after Hurrricane Katrina. Blackened Redfish "Seasar"
features blackened, Louisiana farm-raised redfish, served with
firecracker cornbread, for $13.95. There's also Hickory Grilled
Redfish for $16 and a Blackened Louisiana Redfish Burger with
fried eggplant sticks for $8.95.
Black drum is featured at upscale Ralph's on the Park, also
in New Orleans. The Baked Baby Drum entrée with sauce
Béarnaise, steamed basmati rice and asparagus spears sells for
$19.25.