Samples of silver smelt, as fillets from frozen fish, as block-frozen fillet and as block-frozen mince, were thawed and tested for toughness (by shearing) and water-binding capacity after storage at -28C for 150, 235 and 374 days; cryoprotectants were not used. Shear values fell over the storage period for fillets from frozen fish but remained relatively constant for the other two types of frozen material. Block-frozen fillets had the highest shear values. The water-binding capacities were lowest for block-frozen mince and decreased steadily over the three test dates for the three types of material.