Tony Wood has one goal in mind: getting the absolute freshest sockeye salmon and other seafood to customers across the country. To accomplish that goal “Captain Tony,” as he is known, splits his time between his Carbondale home and the remote area of Bristol Bay, Alaska where he leads a small commercial fishing fleet. How he got to that place is a story unto itself. Wood studied aviation at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. During his collegiate summers, Wood worked as a fishing guide and apprentice pilot in King Salmon, Alaska. After relocating to Alaska, he started his own air taxi and guide business in the region. He was introduced to commercial fishing when a friend asked him to help for a couple of weeks on his vessel. Wood offered to be paid in fish, which he brought back to the Midwest. >click to read< 08:16
Tag Archives: Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay’s 2023 year in review
January started out with communities contending with an egg shortage, as an outbreak of avian flu in Washington state drastically slowed shipments north. Slavii stars circulated around the region for Orthodox Christmas with some precautions in place to protect community members from the flu virus and Covid-19. Dozens of people attended the Bristol Bay Native Corporation’s free online language classes in Yup’ik, Dena’ina and Alutiiq. The corporation also offered song and dance classes. And at the end of the month, many in Bristol Bay saw a years-long effort validated with the Environmental Protection Agency vetoing the controversial Pebble Mine project. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 12:35
Bristol Bay red king crab, tanner crab fisheries open Sunday
The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery is back on track, after being closed for two years, with a total allowable catch of 2.15 million pounds – just a bit lower than when it was last opened in 2020 at 2.6 million pounds. The announcement on Friday, Oct. 6, was cheered by crab captains and Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, as a way to get back out doing what they loved, pay some bills, and keep crew working, all while keeping the crab resource sustainable for generations to come. Veteran crabber Glenn Casto, captain of the FV Pinnacle, called it a start in the right direction, that will help pay some bills and help out crew. >>click to read<< 08:20
Alaska fishermen will be allowed to harvest lucrative red king crab in the Bering Sea
Alaska fishermen will be able to harvest red king crab for the first time in two years, offering a slight reprieve to the beleaguered fishery beset by low numbers likely exacerbated by climate change. There was no such rebound for snow crab, however, and that fishery will remain closed for a second straight year, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Friday. “The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery for the prior two seasons were closed based on low abundance and particularly low abundance of mature-sized female crabs,” said Mark Stichert, the state department’s ground fish and shellfish management coordinator, “Based on survey results from this year, those numbers have improved, some signs of modest optimism in terms of improving abundance in Bristol Bay red king crab overall and that has allowed for a small but still conservative fishery for 2023 as the total population size is still quite low,” he said. >>click to read<<11:52
Alaska cancels snow crab harvest again due to population concerns
Crabbers from the Pacific Northwest who fish in Alaska had been watching and waiting for recommendations from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which met Thursday and Friday. Following the meetings, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said Bering snow crab season will be closed for 2023-2024; Bristol Bay red king crab will open. Tanner crab will also be open for commercial fishermen. Both the snow crab and Bristol Bay red king crab seasons were closed in 2023. Crabbers and industry associations warned of the massive impact the decision would have on many small businesses, prompting calls by Congressional officials for an emergency declaration and federal aid. Video, >>click to read<< 08:18
Bristol Bay red king crab fishery could return after two years on ice
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is set to decide Friday whether or not to reopen the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery, which has been closed since 2021. Their decision will be based on recommendations from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which is meeting through Oct. 11 in Anchorage. During the Council’s meeting Tuesday, the Crab Plan Team presented data and analysis on Bristol Bay crab stocks from the summer trawl survey to the Scientific and Statistical Committee. Mike Litzow is a co-chair for the team and the shellfish assessment program manager and director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Kodiak Lab. Litzow said while male and female crab are still at historic lows, the fishery is not at or approaching an “overfished” status. >>click to read<< 08:48
A 50-year situation: the market dynamic between fishing fleets and processors in Bristol Bay
This year, Bristol Bay’s 50 cents per pound base price had fleet members questioning the industry’s longevity. The dynamic between fleets and processors has existed for decades, with permit-holding fishing crews delivering their catch before knowing its cost, and processors relying on them to do so. KDLG’s Christina McDermott sat down with economist Gunnar Knapp, who spent decades studying Bristol Bay’s salmon markets, to learn more about the history of this relationship, and what it means going forward. Christina McDermott: Just a little background: this past summer, many fleet members were upset when the price was announced at 50 cents per pound, which is the lowest in the past 40 years when adjusted for inflation. The announcement came fairly late in the season. There was protest, and there was a lot of discussion on the processors’ respective power to set that price. And I’m interested in going back a little bit. What opportunities [did] the fleet have to sell their fish 50 years ago, let’s say, or 20 years ago? Has it always [been] this relationship [that] there are these processors and there are these fishermen? >>click to read<< 10:00
Bristol Bay fleets call for greater price transparency
There’s a multi-decade precedent for Bristol Bay salmon processors to wait until the season is underway to announce what they’re willing to pay. Peter Pan shook up the industry in 2021 and 2022 by announcing a base price at the start of the season, but this year waited until mid-July, along with other processors in the region. Captain Konrad Schaad, of the Fishing Vessel Skua, says this model hurts fishers. “The producer gets paid what’s left over. We produce the fish and then it gets processed and sold and everything and everybody gets their cut, and then the morsels that are leftover, they give to us. There should be a fixed cost for what we produce here,” he said. In Bristol Bay, commercial fishing crews fish on what’s called an ‘open ticket. >click to read< 12:53
Bristol Bay drift permits drop in value
Just a few months ago, a permit for driftnet salmon in Bristol Bay went for over $225,000. There were many in that general price range late last fall. This month, the prices at permit brokerages show that some are being offered for as little as $140,000, more than a one-third drop in value. The price for commercial fishing permits goes up and down through time. In 2020, Bristol Bay drift permits could be found for between $170,000 and $180,000. Then they went up, and now they are down. >click to read< 19:43
Bristol Bay Sees Strong Wild Sockeye Harvest to Follow Up Record-Breaking Year
The cumulative wild sockeye salmon harvest through the end of July in Bristol Bay, Alaska, currently sits at 38 million fish, surpassing the forecast of 37 million fish. As anticipated, this season’s strong returns make 2023 one of the top five harvest seasons of the past 20 years – quite a follow-up to last year’s all-time record-breaking harvest. Bristol Bay is known as “America’s Wild Sockeye Source,” and is home to the largest wild salmon run on the planet, producing half the world’s supply of wild sockeye. “The strong harvests out of Bristol Bay in recent years are a testament to the responsible fisheries management of Alaska and the Bristol Bay fishing industry including fishermen, biologists, local community and seafood processors, and speak to the health and thriving future of the wild sockeye in the region,” >click to read< 13:08
Young fishing crews question future of fishery
Wesley Blough and Jordan Manor are childhood friends, growing up crewing on their fathers’ boats in Bristol Bay. Now in their mid twenties, they live in Hoonah, Alaska and Bainbridge Island, Washington respectively but they return each season to deckhand. For the young fishermen, it’s like a family reunion. “Jordan and I have known each other now for nine years. And this is the only time we see each other,” Blough said, “Four weeks into the fishing season, processors posted a record-low base price of 50 cents per pound – less than half of last year’s price – igniting outrage and frustration among crews across the fishery. Jordan and Wesley’s fathers Darren Manor and Cheyne Blough helped organize the protest in the Naknek River on July 20, where over one hundred boats anchored up in a demonstration, calling on processors to increase the base price and transparency in the fishery. >click to read< 07:55
Photos: On the water with Bristol Bay’s protesting fishing crews
Commercial fishing crews joined together at the mouth of the Naknek River to peacefully protest the low price that processors are offering for this year’s sockeye salmon. They want processors to reconsider the 50 cents per-pound price, as well as more transparency in the fishery. The protest began at 6:00 AM on Thursday, July 20, and lasted through the day. >click to see the photos< 11:33
Bristol Bay fishermen protest low base price, lack of transparency
By 9 am, over one hundred boats are anchored in the Naknek River entrance, some after a night of fishing the Naknek-Kvichak. Ivan Basargin of the fishing vessel Top Notch is one of them. He’s here to join the demonstration against this year’s low price. Standing in the wheelhouse of a boat he built, he says this year’s low-price hits hard. “I’m going to pay my workers. I’m going to pay my bills. As far as living expenses, I haven’t decided yet. This 50 cents that I get, when I get home, it’s going to be a wash. I’m not going to have any money in the bank saved,” he said. Organizers of the protest are calling on processors to reconsider and improve the base price this season from 50 cents per pound, less than half of last year’s price. “If they know we can fish for 50 cents, we’re going to get paid 30 cents next year,” he said. “That will happen if we don’t do anything. Like today – this is a peaceful protest. We’re not trying to block people or anything. We’re just trying to show the world that we’re hurting, and we need some help.” Basargin says processors are claiming they are struggling financially too but he hasn’t seen evidence of this struggle. >click to read< 17:15
Alaska salmon fishermen fume over low prices, but processors say they’re hurting too
Aboard the F/V Five Star, his boat, Danielson and his deckhand put away as many pounds of fish as they could. They had no breakdowns. But his seafood processor is paying him 70 cents per pound for his salmon, half of last year’s price which means that instead of his usual six-figure haul for a summer of hard work, he might only break even, or go home to his family in Washington with $10,000, if he’s lucky. He added: “We’re up against something that’s out of our control, and that’s the processors killing us here.” In the past few weeks, thousands of fishermen across the state have found themselves in a similar predicament,,, Photos, >click to read< 08:52
Bristol Bay fishermen protest processors’ low sockeye market price — 50 cents per pound
Some Bristol Bay fishermen are furious over the 50 cent per pound market price for sockeye salmon that Bristol Bay processors are hitting them with. Now the fishermen are protesting over a market price they received 40 years ago — a price some fisherman said could force the industry into a downward spiral, and that action needs to be taken. On Thursday morning more than 60 fishing vessels lined the Naknek River in solidarity. Protest spokesperson Cheyne Blough said the protest was announced on Facebook when the processors declared the base price earlier this week. Blough said the 50 cent per pound market price isn’t enough for fishermen to recover their costs, and could put some out of business. Video, >click to read< 07:45
Bristol Bay fishermen up in arms against lower salmon prices, will protest
Commercial fishermen in the Bristol Bay region are voicing their displeasure against recent prices of sockeye salmon. According to fisherman Cheyne Blough, the price of sockeye salmon hovered around $1.20-$1.50 per pound, but as of recently, the price dropped to 50 cents. “We all expected less than last year. But we had no clue it was gonna be basically kind of bankruptcy prices,” Blough said. Since then, Blough along with several other commercial fishermen have set up a protest that will happen on Thursday, where fishermen will line up their boats in front of the Naknek River, in protest of the lowered prices. Video, >click to read< 07:50
Bristol Bay bust – Bristol Bay salmon prices hit rock bottom
Prices paid commercial fishermen for their catches of wild, Bristol Bay sockeye salmon have just set a modern record low of 50 cents per pound. That’s only three cents per pound less than the average price paid for a Southeast Alaska pink salmon – or humpy as Alaskans usually call the smallest and blandest tasting of the Pacific – in 2018, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game data. With a correction for inflation, that old humpy would now be worth 8 cents more per pound than a Bristol Bay sockeye. The last time the Bay saw anything like this was more than two decades ago when the sockeye price hit 42 cents per pound. Once inflation adjusted, however, those fish had a value of 70 cents per pound – 20 cents more than what Trident Seafoods and other processors are now offering. >click to read< 07:53
Why are chinook runs declining in Bristol Bay, while sockeye runs are shattering records?
Tim Sands is the westside area management biologist with the Alaska Department for Fish and Game, where this issue is top of mind. “That’s one of the questions we get: ‘Well, are the sockeye up there competing with the kings? Is that what’s going on?’” Sands said. “I don’t think so. The sockeye for the most part are bearing in the lake. Kings are in the river. They spawn in different areas.” Sands says sockeye and chinook lay and bury their eggs in different spawning grounds and at different depths. So most likely the issue is tied to ocean conditions when kings migrate out to sea. But what’s exactly behind this decline remains a mystery. “There’s something else going on,” Sands said. >click to read< 13:45
Why would a pediatric neurosurgeon go crab fishing in the Bering Sea?
The fears and anxieties associated with my role as a pediatric neurosurgeon are those related to my patients’ lives I have put at risk during the past 20 years. The last decade presented an opportunity for me to learn something from the commercial fishing industry about life circumstances where we experience fear and anxiety. In 2009, I was privileged to work on the F/V Miss Colleen, a commercial salmon fishing gillnet boat in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Then, in the fall of 2019 and winter of 2021, I was fortunate to be a deckhand on the F/V Saga, a commercial crab fishing boat in the Bering Sea profiled on the Discovery show Deadliest Catch. Both experiences had a profound effect on me and taught me how to switch from a “my life is at risk” mentality to one focused on preventing mistakes from happening through teamwork and effective communication. It occurred to me that there is no room for error in both the health care and commercial fishing industries. Both giving a patient the wrong medication or going overboard in rough seas can lead to death. >click to read< 18:08
Bristol Bay drift gillnetters face boat inspection
Bristol Bay commercial salmon drift gillnet permit holders have been advised by the Alaska Wildlife Troopers of upcoming inspections during the summer fishery to determine whether participating vessels are adhering to current vessel length regulations and if crews are fishing legally. Ongoing efforts by some participants in this fishery to amend current regulations to allow innovations that give them a harvesting advantage have yet to be approved by the Alaska Board of Fisheries, and no more proposals will be considered by the board before that season begins. Current state fisheries regulations limit drift gillnetters to 32 feet in overall length with few exceptions, which were carefully identified in a letter sent to every gillnet permit holder in the Bristol Bay fishery. >click to read< 09:27
Bristol Bay’s sockeye runs break records, but local permit ownership has declined for decades
This summer, 79 million sockeye returned to Bristol Bay. It was the largest run on record. But over the past half-century, there has been a dramatic shift in who fishes commercially in Bristol Bay. Local permit ownership has declined sharply, and research shows that’s due in part to a regulatory change to Alaska’s fishery management from the 1970s. Propelled by years of low salmon returns and more people coming to the state to fish, Alaskans voted in 1972 to amend the state’s constitution and implement a limited entry system. This system restricted the number of commercial fishing permits in areas around the state, including Bristol Bay. >click to read< 08:14
‘A life on the mud’ for setnetter who fishes from Bristol Bay beach
Liz Moore spends most of the year working from her Shoreline, Wash., home office, where she helps evaluate programs run by governments and nonprofits. In the late spring of each year, she returns to this Southwest Alaska community, where she was raised, to pick sockeye out of setnets that stretch from a muddy beach. The shoreline setnet operation she runs includes a half-dozen skiffs and a crew of 10 men and women, some of whom come from as far away as New York. “When we get back to Seattle … it’s a life on pavement,” Moore said. “Here, it’s a life on mud, and I think I’m much more suited for a life on the mud.” >click to read< 15:04
Bristol Bay’s sockeye run is already the biggest on record
Bristol Bay’s 2022 sockeye run is now the biggest on record: 69.7 million fish have returned this summer. That surpasses the previous record of 67.7 million fish, which was set last year. Bristol Bay’s commercial fleet hauled in the most fish on record this year. More than 3 million sockeye have swum up the Wood River to spawn in the tributaries around Lake Aleknagik, about 20 miles from Dillingham, according to the state’s counting tower on the river. Sherol Mershon lives along the lake near the head of the river. She owns a bed and breakfast there and has hung commercial fishing nets for 45 years. She said this year’s runs are remarkable. >click to read< 12:10
Bristol Bay Fisheries Report: July 17, 2022
Harvests slowed down Saturday. The bay-wide haul was 851,000. This year’s all-time biggest harvest now totals 55.6 million fish. But escapement is still below the record. 17 million fish have made it to spawning grounds across the bay – short of last year’s bay-wide escapement of 25.6 million. Still, the runs up a few rivers have exceeded their maximum escapement goals, and many others have met escapement. >click to read< 12:10
Historic Sailboat begins voyage to Naknek
For more than 60 years, sailboats dominated Bristol Bay’s commercial fishery. Motorized vessels were illegal. Then, in 1951, the federal government finally allowed motorized fishing vessels in Bristol Bay. LaRece Egli, the director of the Bristol Bay Historical Society Museum in Naknek said almost immediately, sailing was made obsolete for the fishery. “I think it’s literally down to 50 or 46 boats or something like that in 1954 and then they just disappear,” she said. By 1952, powerboats outnumbered sailboats 4 to 1. In less than five years, every commercial vessel had a motor. This year, local historians are bringing the sailing tradition back to the bay with a vessel named the Libby, McNeil, Libby, No. 76. >click to read< 10:39