The Lenten season has arrived and so has the search for fresh fish and seafood markets in the Poconos.

Lent is a period of 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, referencing the 40 days that Jesus fasted in the desert before starting his ministry. It is observed by most Christian groups including Roman Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox churches.

According to Christian teaching, Jesus died on a Friday and so fasting or abstaining from eating the flesh of warm-blooded animals gave way to "Fish Fridays." Historically, fish was a more available and affordable protein for early Christians.

Here is a list of where to get your fresh fish and seafood in the Poconos.

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Blue Ocean Fish Market

Blue Ocean Fish Market owner Luis Delgado recently moved his fish market into a larger store space, just a few blocks away from the old location.

Delgado's fish market has been open for nearly 30 years.

It started with his brother Carlos Delgado, who retired 10 years ago, and he intends to retire himself in another two years, at which time his son will take it over.

"I sell everything that sells in this area," gushed Delgado, who listed offerings from Norwegian salmon to Long Island Top Neck clams, scungili and Bacalao.

According to Delgado, the market's seafood is wild-caught and comes from the Fulton Fish Market at Hunts Point in the Bronx.

"I cut, fillet, and clean all my own fish and I try to give a nice variety and supply for my customers," Delgado said.

He admitted that the pandemic brought on the "biggest increase in business in all my years here, the store was constantly jammed."

"I have customers that have been coming here for 30 years, and now their children are coming here too," Delgado said.

"I don't bring anything that won't sell, like Canadian perch or like crabs because they are too expensive," said Delgado. "Live crabs were my biggest seller until the pandemic drove the prices to unreasonable highs; the price has gotten to $250 per bushel when it used to cost me $50 per bushel. That's too much money.

"We will see what the summer brings this year," he said.

Info: Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, closed on Sundays. Call 570-424-8755, or go to blueoceanfishmarket.com for more info.

Location: 764 North 9th St., Stroudsburg

Coco's Fresh Fish Market

Fish market owner Coco Brown just celebrated her two-year anniversary in the business on February 13. Her business started just weeks before the pandemic shutdowns hit in March of 2020.

Coco's Fresh Fish Market not only sells fresh fish, it also cooks fish offered on a take-out menu.

"We serve fish dinners with two sides, anything from macaroni and cheese, candied yams, rice and gandules, potato salad and collard greens with smoke turkey. No pork on our fork," Brown said.

Coco's also prepares steam trays of fish and vegetables such as corn on cob, broccoli, carrots, okra, spinach, white potato or sweet potato. Choices of seasoning are mild, spicy, jerk, lemon pepper or jerk seasoning with butter and garlic.

There's also an all-day breakfast menu, complete with grits, and options for kids like chicken nuggets.

"One of my famous entrees is my lobster mac and cheese," Brown said. "My best seller in fresh fish would be the salmon, it flies off the ice. My biggest seller in the cooked fish department would be our seafood combos."

Info: Take-out only, and is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday. Accepts all major credit cards and EBT for fresh fish items. Call 272-200-2888 or go to cocosfreshfishmarket.com for more info.

Location: 730 Milford Road, East Stroudsburg

Fisherman's Cove at ShopRite

Nathan Clark and his co-worker Braden Burlew were busy stocking freezers and taking customer orders at Kinsley's ShopRite in Brodheadsville.

Clark said they are prepping for the extra business during the Lenten season, "It's mostly the special kind of fish like cod, flounder and tilapia that we are putting on sale. Right now, we have about 90 pounds of cod in the coolers for the week and about 50 pounds of tilapia and 60 pounds of flounder. This is in addition to everything that we get in every day of the week for our customers."

Clark claims his five most common and popular sellers are the scallops, cod, salmon, flounder and tilapia. Shrimp and whole fish, like trout or bronzini are also big sellers in the fresh fish department.

"Customers can get their fish and seafood fresh or cooked," said Clark. "We have a fryer, a steamer and an oven back here so they can get it any way they want it."

Besides fresh and cooked fish options, ShopRite has large, fully stocked freezers filled with frozen fish and seafood options.

Info: Open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays. Call 570-992-2666 for more info.

Location: 107 Kinsley Drive, Brodheadsville

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Find your catch of the day at these Pocono fish markets