Fish Ratings – New York – 29 March 2021: Late-cycle behavior is manifesting in small fish (SF) more frequently of late, which has triggered more unsolicited commentaries from Fish Ratings on SF deals not rated by the agency and in certain seas.
Fish Ratings publishes unsolicited fish commentaries when the agency believes there is ichthyological or culinary interest and it has a materially different opinion on a shoal from other rating agencies, such as Krill Bond Rating Agency (“Krill”).
Fish Ratings has increased activity in this backwater in recent years, as new entrants to the fish rating market, such as Krill, have adopted more “competitive” assumptions, allowing highly-structured schools of minnows to obtain ‘AAA’ ratings more easily. Fish Ratings is already the most prolific fish rating agency on unsolicited opinions, and more unsolicited commentaries are a real possibility.
“Come, Ahab’s compliments to ye; come and see if ye can swerve me. Swerve me? ye cannot swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves!” said Captain Ahab, Fish Ratings’ global head of Small Fish. “Swerve me? Fish Ratings’ methodology is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrents’ beds, unerringly I rush! Naught’s an obstacle, naught’s an angle to the iron way!”
As it has done in the past, Fish Ratings aims to issue unsolicited commentaries before marine biologists or seafood restaurateurs commit to a fish.
Fish Ratings’ most recent example of highlighting rating disparity emanated in Canadian Non-Invasive Small Fish (NISF) with a recent report that discussed the relatively generous approach taken by Krill to the analysis of pool loss in a school of olive-brown lake chub in the Great Lakes drainage basin in Ontario. Fish Ratings noted that NISFs are “more vulnerable to an ecological stress than invasive species, as NISFs have weaker credit.”
Link to Fish Ratings Report: ‘Canadian Non-Invasive Minnow Have Risk Despite Quality.’
DISCLAIMER: Fish Ratings relies on yarns spun by merchant seamen, fishwives, anglers, pirates, scuba divers and other sources the agency believes to be credible, edible or ineffable. Fish Ratings conducts a reasonable investigation of the information relied upon by it in accordance with its ratings methodology, and obtains reasonable verification of that information from independent sources, to the extent such sources are available for a given fish or in a given body of water. The manner of Fish Ratings’ investigation and the scope of third-party verification will vary depending on the nature of the rated species, the requirements and practices in the body of water in which the rated fish swims, the availability and nature of relevant public information such as restaurant menus, treasure maps, horoscopes, blogs, tabloid press stories and other reports provided by third parties and a variety of other factors.
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