Price protest

Bristol Bay radio station KDLG reports the following:

Fishermen are planning to stage a protest in the Naknek River entrance on Thursday, July 20. Organizers say they will anchor from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. across the river entrance to oppose the low price from processors.

Peter Pan, salmon disruptor

Normally, the major processors at Bristol Bay wait until the end of the season to announce what they'll pay fishermen for salmon.

But one processor, Peter Pan, is doing it differently this year. The company, operating under new ownership, today dropped a surprise, announcing a base price of $1.10 per pound for Bristol Bay sockeye.

The Bristol Bay salmon fishery is only just now getting started. The harvest typically peaks around the Fourth of July.

Peter Pan's price trounces the 70 cents processors paid in 2020, the COVID year.

It also serves notice to competing processors — a puny price ain't gonna cut it this season.

Bristol Bay update

The industry has tallied a big harvest of more than 36 million sockeye so far at Bristol Bay. And it has done so despite daunting COVID-19 challenges.

But fishermen likely won't be happy with the payoff. Media reports say processors are posting a base ex-vessel price of 70 cents a pound, a big drop from last year's average of $1.35.

Big price on small catch at Bristol Bay

Bristol Bay will finish with a relatively small catch this season, but fishermen could enjoy a better payoff.

Deckboss just heard from the Alaska Independent Fishermen's Marketing Association that a couple of major processors have posted a base price of $1.50 a pound for sockeye salmon.

That's a huge increase from the $1 base seen in the 2012 and 2011 seasons.

Bristol Bay price update

The Alaska Independent Fishermen's Marketing Association reports that Trident Seafoods also is paying $1 a pound for Bristol Bay sockeye, matching rival processors Ocean Beauty and Yardarm Knot.

Also, a Bristol Bay gillnetter tells Deckboss another processor, Alaska General Seafoods, likewise is paying $1.

A buck a pound

Salmon tenders at Clarks Point. Jack Molan photo

The Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery is rapidly winding down, and it appears the industry might come up a little short of the preseason catch forecast of 21.8 million fish.

Deckboss hears reliably that two processors, Ocean Beauty and Yardarm Knot, have posted a base price of $1 a pound.

That matches the price posted at this time last season.

Bristol Bay sockeye price reportedly reaches $1

Deckboss hears a major Bristol Bay processor, Yardarm Knot, has posted a base price of $1 a pound for sockeye, plus 15 cents for chilled fish.

Last season's average base was 95 cents a pound, the best price seen around the bay in quite a few years.

Hot year for halibut

Alaska's halibut fishery closes at noon Nov. 15, and longliners already have caught 97 percent of the 40.3 million pounds of individual fishing quotas issued when the season opened back on March 6.

So how's it gone this year in terms of prices?

In a word, hot.

The Seattle-based Fishing Vessel Owners' Association, in the November issue of its newsletter "The Wheel Watch," reports that prices "have reached record highs even with the North American recession."

Association boats landing halibut recently in Seward received $6.40 per pound for the biggest and most valuable fish — those weighing 40 pounds or more. Smaller fish brought between $5.90 and $6.15.

Relatively low inventories plus the prospect of further quota cuts in 2011 likely will buoy the value of fish in cold storage, the newsletter says.

The good news, however, comes with the worry that halibut is pricing itself out of the market.

"There have been several major grocery stores that have taken halibut out of their stores this fall due to the high prices," the newsletter says. Retail prices in Seattle are reported at $18 a pound and up.

Bristol Bay catch falls short, but value is ... wow!

It's pretty clear now that this season's catch of Bristol Bay sockeye won't reach the state forecast of 30.5 million fish.

But a strong price can make up for lost fish. And from what I'm hearing, this could be one of the most lucrative hauls in many years.

Through the weekend, the harvest tally was 27.2 million sockeye.

Catch rates are dropping fast now, with lots of fishermen pulling their boats from the water and heading home. Traditionally, it's right around this time that processors post their base prices for fish.

Deckboss hears reliably that one processor is paying 96 cents a pound.

That's a leap from the 70 cents the major packers paid in 2009.

The average Bristol Bay sockeye weighs around six pounds, so take that times 27.2 million fish and then multiply the result by 96 cents and you get a total fishery value of about $157 million.

That's the highest level in 15 years.

So, what's propelling the higher prices?

A couple of probable factors: Lower output of farmed salmon from Chile due to a virus outbreak and February's earthquake, and the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run in British Columbia.

High times for halibut

Halibut prices have Travis Goodrich smiling. Deckboss photos

While in Kodiak for the May 28 gubernatorial debate, I walked the docks a little and ran into the crew of the halibut longliner Inua.

Skipper Travis Goodrich and the boys were baiting hooks with chunks of pollock and looking pretty pleased with life.

Goodrich said they'd made a big delivery of halibut a couple of days earlier and got $4.75 to $5.25 a pound for the fish, depending on the size.

"That's excellent," said Goodrich, about as high as he's ever seen at this point in the season.

After talking awhile, Deckboss looked up from his notepad long enough to realize the Inua is actually a sailboat!

Goodrich said he and his crew have been known to raise the big sail on occasion, though not too often.

The latest issue of the Seafood Market Bulletin, prepared for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, confirms improved market conditions this year for halibut.

Read the report here.

Over the top

Now that the season is nearly done, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has stopped updating its daily online catch summary for the Bristol Bay salmon fishery.

Deckboss was curious this morning, however, about whether the fishery had topped 30 million sockeye.

So I called the department's Slim Morstad out in King Salmon.

Slim reports the grand total through Sunday stands at 30,108,796 fish.

Not bad, considering the state had forecast a catch this season of about 24 million fish.

On prices, the folks with the Alaska Independent Fishermen’s Marketing Association report most gillnetters are going home with a base price of 70 cents a pound. Last year most companies paid a base of 68 cents.

The price seems impressive, considering all the gloom with the world economy.