The signs

The value of Alaska's salmon fishery ticked upwards in 2003 to $195 million for a catch of 173 million fish. The blip is not cause for celebration, as fish prices remained fairly static, meaning low. "I don't think we've turned the corner," said Geron Bruce, the state's deputy director of commercial fisheries. "We are still mired in the same global economic difficulties we've been in for the past 10 to 15 years, ever since the onset of farmed salmon."

But Bruce was quick to point out that more people and companies are finding ways to get added value from their fish with niche marketing, and capitalizing on the reputations of their regions: Kenai Wild, Aleutia, Arctic Keta and most recently, Star of Kodiak, all hope to create a following for their particular brand of salmon.

Chef Peter Hoffman of the Savoy Restaurant in New York City agreed. "It's well managed, it supports fishermen who are still working in traditional ways, and it's so delicious. Alaska salmon is a great story."

It's so huge that major mainstream media over the past year have embraced the wild Alaska salmon story and made it their own. Doctors and researchers around the world keep revealing more miraculous ways in which wild salmon benefits our health, mending everything from hearts to hemorrhoids to headaches. Chefs and restaurateurs ooh and aah over the exquisite flavor and earth friendliness of Alaska salmon. Media icons like the Wall Street Journal, Good Housekeeping, Los Angeles Times and Readers' Digest print articles warning consumers about some of the nasty facts of "feed lot" salmon. You can't buy that kind of good press!

Barry Estabrook, a writer for Gourmet Magazine, said there is no doubt the seafood conservation movement is growing, especially among America's chefs. "It's a key group when it comes to spreading messages. They serve 70 percent of all the seafood in the country. Alaska salmon is the one fishery that's got it right," Estabrook said.

"People are infinitely more concerned and more savvy than just a few years ago. Attention has really turned to the seafood industry and the conservation issues around it," agreed Wild Oats Vice President Paul Gingerich in Boulder, Colo.

Alaska salmon in 1998 was the very first fish to be certified as a sustainable, well-managed fishery by the international Marine Stewardship Council. So far, more than 75 Alaska salmon suppliers have earned the certification that allows them to boast a MSC label on their products, telling customers that it came from an earth friendly fishery. "It also gives people a direct way to reward well-managed fisheries and to help keep their favorite seafoods around for generations to come," said MSC's Karen Tarica.

Along with salmon, Alaska pollock, halibut and black cod will be the next to boast the MSC eco-label sometime this year.

Americans each year are eating more seafood; per capita consumption last year rose to 15.6 pounds, up from 14.8 pounds the year before. Salmon ranks as the No. 3 most popular seafood on the government's top ten list. Interestingly, consumption of crab (No. 7) has grown 45 percent since 2000.

It can't be denied that people are becoming more concerned with what they're putting into their mouths. As with hormones in milk and genetically modified foods, the routine use of antibiotics, insecticides and colorants by the farmed salmon industry is meeting with more resistance by consumers.

This fall new Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) laws go into effect so customers will easily be able to identify where their foods come from, and in the case of seafood, if it's wild or farmed. That will boost the visibility of wild Alaska salmon on supermarket shelves across the U.S.

Tuna's tragedy is salmon's opportunity

Right now, Alaska salmon is perfectly poised to grab some huge market share from America's favorite fish, canned tuna. For years it's been under the radar, but now the tuna industry is under siege over the high levels of mercury in its canned pack. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that, like lead, can damage the brains and nervous systems of fetuses and young children.

StarKist, BumbleBee and Chicken of the Sea, the three principal U.S. tuna manufacturers, sold about 2.3 billion six-ounce cans of tuna last year. But retail sales have dropped by about 10 percent in the U.S. in the past decade, due in part to public concern about mercury. This year the FDA is preparing its first labeling requirements warning consumers about the health risks of eating canned tuna.

In contrast, Alaska salmon showed the lowest mercury levels of any fish.

Gov. Frank Murkowski has slapped upwards of $60 million on the table to make sure that message (and all the others) gets to the masses. Many of Alaska's major seafood companies - NorQuest, Peter Pan, Icicle, and Ocean Beauty Seafoods - will spend millions on national promotional blitzes for skinless/boneless salmon in cans and pouches, and new flaked salmon products.

Trident Seafoods is also matching a $1 million grant to promote a line of salmon burgers at Costco. Ten million in marketing dollars is also being distributed by the newly formed Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board. "We will really see some exciting things start to happen this year as a result of all of these new products and outreach programs, and especially in 2005," said Bruce Schactler, president of United Salmon Association.

Meanwhile, amidst all the excitement in the marketplace, Alaska lawmakers this session will be faced with tweaking state statutes in order to allow some operational changes to many of the salmon fisheries. "We need to address the fact that we have too many boats, too many people and too much expense chasing salmon all over the state of Alaska," said Dan Coffey, former chairman of the state Board of Fisheries. Options being looked at include buybacks or "retiring" permits, permit stacking, fishing cooperatives, quota shares for salmon - even fish traps.

Whitefish still rules

Groundfish - namely, pollock and cod - are still the crown jewels of Alaska's fisheries, and will likely hold the title for years to come. Alaska pollock from the Bering Sea is the most valuable and profitable food fishery in the United States, if not in the world, and the resource has never been in better shape.

Fishermen will catch more than 3.3 billion pounds of Bering Sea pollock in 2004, the highest since 1991. If fishermen wanted to, biologists say, they could catch more than 5 billion pounds without depleting the stocks; however, that exceeds a cap placed on the fishery by managers. As for cod, the world's most popular fish, Alaska's waters will provide nearly 600 million pounds this year, up 18 percent.

In all, Alaska groundfish accounts for nearly 60 percent of total U.S. fish landings, and almost 20 percent of the total U.S. value. Last year, the fish was worth $566 million at the Alaska docks, more than salmon, halibut and shellfish harvests combined. After processing, the value of the fish jumped to nearly $1.5 billion. That equates to sizeable landing taxes (3 percent) for communities like Dutch Harbor/Unalaska (the nation's No. 1 port for landings for the 14th year in a row), Kodiak and Akutan, where most of Alaska's groundfish comes ashore.

Demand strong for halibut

An eager and growing U.S. market will take all the fresh Alaska halibut it can get, apparently at any price. In 2003, the price to fishermen remained well above an unheard of $3/lb all season, and some speculate the dock price could go to $4.

Even more halibut could cross the docks in many Alaska ports next year if catch numbers are approved in late January by fishery managers. Alaska's share of the Pacific coast-wide harvest is 59.86 million pounds, up just slightly from last year. Fishermen in Southeast Alaska and the Central Gulf will enjoy the biggest gains.

Over the past few years, halibut fishermen have gotten very adroit at coordinating their fishing effort with fresh buyers to avoid glutting the market and driving prices down. For this year, SeaFood Business predicted: "Look for a replay of fresh prices in 2004. Nobody thinks they'll go higher, but then few people think they'll head south, either. And, as is the case with almost any fish, fresh is worth a lot more than frozen." By most estimates, 70 to 80 percent of the Alaska halibut catch is now sold fresh, compared to 20 percent in the days of the derby fishery that ended in 1995.

Crab: A mixed bag, but building

A whopping 70 percent more king crab crossed the state's docks in 2003 than the year before, far more than anyone anticipated. The harvest of 14.5 million pounds of Bristol Bay red kings was up six million pounds from the previous year, and the stocks appear to be on a slow but steady rebound.

Conversely, the conservative harvest guideline of 20.8 million pounds for snow crab - Alaska's largest "bread and butter" crab fishery - is down 12 percent from 2003, the lowest in nearly 20 years.

Meanwhile, a $100 million buyback program designed to remove vessels from the overcrowded Bering Sea king and Tanner crab fisheries is on track for possible completion this spring. The voluntary program will be financed by a 30-year U.S. Treasury loan to be repaid by fishermen who continue to harvest king and Tanner crabs. The buyback is expected to remove about 80 boats and catch histories from a fleet of roughly 250 vessels.

The future is bright

If there's one thing Alaska has, it's fish.

Take all the bad news about Alaska's seafood industry - economic disasters, bad markets, waste, conflicting politics, increased competition, privatization - and what are you left with?

A vibrant industry that is still the envy of every other fish producing country in the world. Alaska's waters contain so much fish, the sheer abundance should force a bulge on the surface of our blue planet. It is a gift of nature, guarded with protective zeal by those entrusted with its care, and regarded by most fishing nations as a model for conservation and sustainability.

Alaska's fisheries are an abundant renewable resource that will be around long after the oil wells run dry.

Kodiak-based free-lance writer Laine Welch can be reached via e-mail at msfish@ptialaska.net.