Catch share crunch – It will cost a fisherman more than that to get his hands on 100,000 pounds of halibut in prime Alaska fishing regions. Not surprisingly, that side of the broker business is slow and there’s not much to sell, especially for halibut where catches have been slashed by 70% over three years and more cuts are coming. Read more
NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?
While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here
“We sold a small 3,000 pound block in 2C for $45 a pound, again with the anticipation that the area has bottomed out and is heading back up,” Bowen said. We’ll see.” Shares of sablefish, or black cod, also are pricey, ranging from $28 to $34 in the Central Gulf and Southeast. Some brokers list Bering Sea sablefish at $2 – $3 per pound.
As we always say. It all comes out of the hatch. Translation, all the costs associated with the harvest get taken out before anyone shares up. At $45 per pound what will be left to share up on and who will be able to afford to eat this stuff?