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Salmon: The heart of Alaska's fisheries
No fishery will feel the effects of change as much as Alaska salmon. It's an industry that has lost its way, along with its prestige and good prices in world markets. Alaska remains blessed with abundance from the world's best-managed fishery. But as it operates today, the salmon industry can't compete with the steady influx of cheap, farm-raised salmon flooding world markets.
This year's total Alaska catch of 130 million fish was valued at $140 million at the docks, down from $216 million last year, and compares to a value of $768 million in 1988. And there's no end in sight -- fish farmers in 2002 produced three times as much salmon as Alaska fishermen. In all, farmed salmon accounts for nearly 60 percent of total world salmon production.
"We are locked into harvesting Alaska salmon almost exactly the same way we did decades ago," said University of Alaska Anchorage economist Gunnar Knapp. "We have hardly changed at all, while the rest of the world has been engaged in continuous change to lower costs, improve quality and better meet the needs of changing markets."
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As the industry struggles to morph into something more meaningful, another big issue to watch in 2003 is marketing. Gov. Frank Murkowksi has stated that some of the next budget will finally be earmarked for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, which has not received a penny in state funding for many years.
Murkowski has also promised to improve transportation to get salmon to world markets more quickly and efficiently. He proposes DC-6 "fish freighters" that would "make runs starting in Western Alaska and moving on down."
Meanwhile, more Alaska salmon fishermen are taking matters into their own hands. Convinced that they can get more money for their fish, fishermen are starting to make small but significant end runs around the traditional way of doing business.
They know that instead of cramming so much salmon into cans, the lowest valued product form, the answer lies in a much worthier product, boneless/skinless salmon fillets. It's what today's customers want and it's how the farmed competition is displayed on retail shelves around the world.
Many Alaska communities have also joined these grass roots marketing efforts, with regional branding efforts starting to emerge. The Kenai Peninsula and Aleutians East boroughs each provided several hundred thousand dollars to fund market strategies to get their salmon into high-end U.S. markets. Kodiak is intent on getting similar recognition and federal dollars are helping Valdez fishermen become trained to custom process and market their own catch.
There are other happenings that could also give an assist to the struggling wild salmon industry. Fish farming is coming under assault for the adverse impacts it has on the environment, other sea life and humans. More groups are demanding that government agencies force fish farmers to clean up their act, with controls over water quality. Health concerns stemming from the widespread use of colorants and antibiotics and other chemicals are also being voiced. New labeling laws identifying fish as wild or farmed could also give Alaska salmon an edge at retail counters.
Meanwhile, the omega 3 fatty acids found in wild salmon continue to be credited with reducing heart attacks, improving eyesight and brain development in babies, alleviating Alzheimer's disease and depression, reducing some cancers, even increasing sexual vigor.
Whitefish still rules
Pollock and cod remain the "crown jewels" of Alaska's seafood industry. Healthy pollock stocks in the Bering Sea will again yield a catch of more than 3 billion pounds in 2003. Another 220 million pounds will come from the Gulf of Alaska. It is the largest fishery in the world and accounts for nearly 30 percent of all fish landed in the United States, valued at roughly $800 million at the docks.
Alaska pollock should revel in good fortune for years to come. Demand is increasing, especially in Europe. And because of the continued good stewardship by managers and harvesters, Alaska's pollock fishery is expected to receive a coveted "eco-label" by the international Marine Stewardship Council this year.
Likewise, Bering Sea cod catches remain hefty and stable, and will be gobbled up by buyers facing shortfalls around the world. Nearly 800 million pounds of cod will come from the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska in 2003.
The whitefish industry could get an economic boost from a diminishing Steller sea lion crisis, which would ease fishing restrictions. A National Academy of Sciences report said fishing probably has not caused the decades-long decline of sea lions, and the animals appear to be in good shape. More likely they are suffering from killer whale predation as opposed to too little food.
Halibut harvesters are also set to enjoy the bounty of a catch in 2003 that will again approach 60 million pounds. The eight-month season supplies a growing fresh fish market that can't seem to get enough of the prized flatfish, no matter what the price.
Crab grab
"Rationalization" is the term that suffuses Alaska's biggest crab fisheries, Bering Sea king and Tanner crabs. It defines an attempt by fish managers to curtail too many boats, about 240, going after too few crab. A buyback program is back on track, and may soon remove some of the gear from the grounds.
But a sweeping quota share program remains at the center of controversy and is one of the most controversial public policy issues in fisheries management today. At issue is a precedent that proposes to give quota shares of crab to a handful of mostly foreign-owned processors. Harvesters would be required to sell 90 percent of their crab to these select processors.
Because giving quota shares to processors violates federal anti-trust laws, Congress must first approve the crab rationalization plan before it can be implemented. A decision will be made sometime in 2003.
Down on the farm
The threat of halibut farming has slowed somewhat, and the time line for huge amounts of farmed halibut to hit the world market has been pushed back by about 10 years. Attention has now shifted to another species important to Alaska's seafood industry -- cod. Cod will be the next major aquaculture species exported to world markets.
Industry reports claim that 280 cod farming licenses have already been issued in Norway, and a big commercial breakthrough is expected to happen this year. Aquaculture expert John Forster believes that unlike farmed salmon, cod is unlikely to wreak havoc with the wild industry.
That's not the case with farmed black cod, which Forster says has excellent potential. British Columbia fish farmers have already put small amounts of black cod on the market. A report by a B.C. government office estimates that aquaculture could produce up to 16,000 tons of black cod by 2021, and once the industry matures, it could drive down prices by 40 percent.
A hopeful future
It will take vision, courage and discipline, but the outcome of all the changes has a good chance of resulting in a more vibrant and economically viable seafood industry. Even with its existing problems, commercial fishing still retains its title as the state's most important industry in terms of employment and income.
The seafood industry, worth roughly $3 billion each year at the docks, is second only to "Big Oil" in the revenues it pumps each year into state coffers. Alaska provides nearly 60 percent of all U.S. seafood -- four times more than any other state.
Notably, the seafood industry will be in the hands of a new administration, which promises to expand resource development throughout Alaska, including fisheries.
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has suggested designating revenues from oil and gas to fisheries. As he put it, "The day will come when oil and gas will not be available. In the meantime we should dedicate funds for preserving and protecting the revenue base of this state forever, and that is the fisheries resource."
Kodiak-based free-lance writer Laine Welch can be reached via e-mail at msfish@ptialaska.net.
