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Web posted
Actually, there is. Sort of, anyway. Although salmon fishermen took another beating this year -- ex-vessel earnings by salmon harvesters sank to 22-year lows in 2002 -- things are looking brighter for Bering Sea pollock and cod fishermen and the processors which depend on them. The allowable harvests for pollock and Pacific cod -- the main moneymakers in the big groundfish industry -- are stable, and the stocks of fish appear in good shape, which means the harvests are sustainable, according to Frank Kelty, resource advisor to the City of Unalaska, the major port in the region. "It looks like our 2003 Bering Sea pollock harvest quotas will be about 1,485 million metric tons. It's about the same as 2002, which was up 10 percent from 2001," Kelty said. "The harvest quota for Pacific cod is about 200,000 metric tons in the Bering Sea, which is also good. The allowance for the Gulf of Alaska is down, however," he said. The stable catch allowance indicates that biologists are confident that the biomass of pollock and cod are in healthy condition, Kelty said. Markets for groundfish, particularly cod, appear in good shape, too, and that's partly because virtually every other pollock and cod fishery in the world is overfished and depleted, he said. Thanks to good scientific management, Alaska is benefiting from strong harvests and strong markets. Processors in Unalaska are also making more valuable products with pollock, Kelty said. More pollock fillets are being produced and less surimi. Fillets sell for better prices. Higher sales revenues trickle through the economy, through greater fisheries tax revenues to the state of Alaska and coastal communities, as well as higher prices paid to harvesters, Kelty said. More higher-value fillet production from salmon is one of the few bright spots in an otherwise gloomy year for the salmon industry. Chris McDowell, a Juneau based fisheries economist and a part-time harvester, said several Alaska processors told him they produced more frozen salmon fillets this year and did better financially. Previously they sold unprocessed frozen salmon that had only been headed and gutted, McDowell said. Another encouraging trend is the fast growth of salmon consumption in the United States. McDowell tracks salmon markets for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, and he predicts that in the next three years the United States will surpass Japan as the world's largest salmon importer. Although farmed salmon, mostly from Chile, accounts for most salmon to the United States, there's ample room in the market for Alaska salmon that can sell for a premium because it is wild-caught, McDowell said. "As the total U.S. market grows, so will the niche markets," McDowell said. But most of the growth in U.S. demand is for salmon in fillet form. To capture more of this market, more Alaska processors will have to upgrade and expand their production of fillets, he said. One other bright spot, McDowell said, is the now tight inventory of frozen sockeye salmon in Japan, which has caused prices to rise there recently. While Japan's salmon markets, as in the United States, are dominated by farmed Chilean salmon, Alaska wild-caught sockeyes occupy a premium niche, he said. Supplies are tight mainly because of the very low harvests of sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay, the major Alaska sockeye fishery. Despite glimmers of hope, there's still plenty of bad news for the state's salmon industry, and in the big crab fisheries, too. Kelty said the 2003 winter opilio crab harvest is set at 25 million pounds, down from 30 million pounds last year. Crab fishing is a big source of revenue for processors in Southwest Alaska, as well as the harvesters. Red king crab harvests in Bristol Bay and other areas in the region appear stable, as are catches of brown king crab farther west in the Aleutians, but they are small compared with the big opilio crab harvest. Gerona Bruce, deputy director of the state's commercial fisheries division, estimates that about half, or even more, of the licensed salmon permit holders in Alaska did not fish in 2002, mainly because of low prices. The state Department of Fish and Game's latest estimate for the 2002 harvest is 130 million fish. It's down from 179 million fish caught in 2001 but still a good harvest. The value of the fishery is down sharply, however. The latest estimate is $140 million paid to harvesters. That compares with $229 million in 2001, Bruce said. The value is down because of lower prices and a lower harvest, but also because the 2002 harvest was made up mostly of lower-value pink and chum salmon, with less higher-value species like sockeye salmon, Bruce said. McDowell said the trend of fewer sockeyes in the mix has been developing for several years. A few years ago about half the salmon caught in the state were the higher-value sockeyes. Now sockeyes amount to about a third of the state's salmon harvest, he said. McDowell expects the final value for the 2002 salmon harvest will be $10 million to $15 million higher because the current estimate does not include premiums paid by processors to harvesters with special refrigeration equipment. Still, gross earnings by harvesters are down sharply, he said. Despite the low prices, it's still possible for some salmon fishermen to succeed if they are efficient and catch enough volume, McDowell pointed out. Also, many fishermen, particularly in Southeast, are now diversified to reduce risk. They are equipped to fish for several different kinds of fish, he said. In addition, state statistics point to more harvesters selling fish directly to buyers rather than to processors, McDowell said. If they can successfully market their own fish the profit margin can be higher, but there is more risk of unsold fish. McDowell cited state Fish and Game data indicating that the number of fishing vessels licensed to operate as catcher-sellers, meaning they market directly, increased from 528 to 706, a 34 percent increase. "Many of these people are small operators. I know one in Juneau who fishes part time. He goes out, fishes half a day and is on his cellphone selling all the way back to the dock. By the time he's back, most of the fish are sold," McDowell said. Sherry Tuttle, who operates the M/V Arctic Rose, based in Sitka, has fished and sold directly to high-end restaurants for several years. She reported that earnings have been steady in recent years despite the slump in prices, although she worries she may have to somewhat lower her own prices soon to remain competitive.
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