By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Bristol Bay's setnet permit holders have decided to just say no to joining forces with the driftnet fleet in a regional seafood development organization dedicated to obtaining better prices for fishermen.

The setnetters, outnumbered nearly three-to-one by the driftnet permit holders, voted 305 to 141 against joining the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association.

Bob Waldrop, acting executive director of the RSDA, said Nov. 21 that the driftnet fleet had hoped the setnetters would decide to join. Waldrop said it was a defeat for those who wanted to see unified areawide participation in the RSDA. Still, he applauded the participation in the election of 446 of approximately 1,000 setnetters.

Waldrop said he had been approached by seven setnetters, who had formed their own board to encourage joining the RSDA. The RSDA then conducted three public meetings and did four mailings, including the ballot measure, for all holders of setnet permits.

While driftnetters and setnetters do have differences, they also have common grounds, he said. Both permit groups get a low price for their fish right now, and the whole point of the RSDAs is to get those prices raised, he said.

Driftnetters feel the RSDA is the route to better prices, but the setnetters made it clear that as a group they don't want to be part of it right now, he said.

The infrastructure and quality improvement efforts of the fledging RSDA will not favor the driftnet fleet, he said.

The big challenge facing commercial salmon fishermen in Alaska today is the standards for quality and pricing set by farmed salmon, he said. "If 70 percent of the salmon are now farmed, that's the dog and we are the tail, and Bristol Bay is the tip of the tail."

Waldrop noted that farmed salmon arrive at markets free of bruises, and that they are bled live before slaughter. The consumer can pick from fish devoid of bruises or scale loss. "The market is becoming less and less tolerant of things it used to accept," he said.

Still, everyone realizes intrinsically that wild salmon are superior when it comes to oil value and flavor, he said.

Waldrop also noted that state regulations allow for only one RSDA in each region, and that every gear group in a given region must join a single RSDA. While some fishermen think the setnetters of Bristol Bay can later form their own regional organization, that's not possible, he said.

Since the driftnet fleet in Bristol Bay has approved taxation, the state is now collecting a 1 percent tax from those fishermen. The money goes through the legislative appropriation process and then becomes available to the RSDA. In Bristol Bay's case, the RSDA will get its first funds next fall.

Had the setnet permit holders opted to join with the driftnetters, their combined taxes would have been roughly the equivalent of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute's annual promotional budget for all of Alaska sockeye salmon, according to the BBRSDA Web site.

The RSDAs may use the tax money to market and promote their region's seafood, work on infrastructure development for the seafood industry and work to raise quality standards of processed seafood. They may also engage in market research, education and product development, with everything financed through the assessment on the harvest of permit holders.

The BBRSDA will be operated by a board elected by the assessed permit holders, probably in the spring. The elected board will determine policies, priorities and specific programs. Seats on each RSDA must reflect proportionate assessments paid by each gear group. In Bristol Bay's case, there is only one gear group, the driftnetters.

In May 2005, the Copper River/Prince William Sound Marketing Association became the state's first certified RSDA, representing that region's salmon driftnet permit holders.

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.