Tag Archives: Bristol Bay salmon
Economists unsure of how long huge salmon influxes will affect prices
Kodiak fisherman Mike Friccero has fished for salmon for over four decades. He said he was expecting a low price for Bristol Bay salmon this summer but didn’t think rumors were true about how low it would drop. “Our processor gave us a letter, a narrative before the season started, saying that pricing conditions weren’t great but that they were going to go after it with all the resources that they utilized last year as far as tendering and logistics and resources in general,” he said. “And they asked if we would do the same.” Friccero said with lower salmon prices, he’s able to keep a decent paycheck but will have to be wary of his budget for next year. He said he hopes market conditions improve over the winter. >click to read< 11:27
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 Fisheries Report: July 29, 2020
In the penultimate episode of the season, we take a look at the beating heart of our show — commercial fishing. We parse through updates on federal and state relief funding for fishermen, perspectives on the Naknek-Kvichak’s huge year, and a final look at the market. >click to read< 08:11
Bristol Bay Salmon Are in Hot Water
I’ve worked as both a journalist and a commercial fisherman for over a decade, participating in more than a dozen fisheries from Southern California to the western Gulf of Alaska. I’ve seen booms and busts over the years, and this summer the fishing in Bristol Bay was booming. Estimates say 56.3 million salmon returned to the bay’s rivers. While down from 2018’s record-breaking runs, with 62.3 million fish, Bristol Bay has so far bucked the trend of declining salmon runs seen in other regions. But all is not well. by Nick Rahaim >click to read< 09:43
Value of Bristol Bay salmon rises, even as the fish shrink
Bristol Bay’s strong salmon returns stand in stark contrast to other parts of Alaska where the fish have trickled in slowly or seemingly not at all. Statewide, though, fish of all species are coming in smaller. Here’s why. 2018 has been a year for the Bristol Bay record books as total sockeye run surpassed 61 million on Thursday, putting it just a half-million fish behind the largest run of 61.7 million in 1980. Bert Lewis oversees commercial fisheries in Bristol Bay, Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He’s impressed at the strength of the Nushagak district’s run and even at Bristol Bay’s east-side districts, which came in “late but solidly.”>click to read<10:46
The world’s greatest sockeye fishery is spinning up for an exciting year
Early? Small? Two bucks a pound? What about that Fraser River? Reality TV? These are some of the questions on the minds of the Bristol Bay fishing industry, which is quickly pouring back into the hub towns of Dillingham and Naknek. Every day more processing plant workers arrive, boats go in the water, and one by one, kings and sockeye hit subsistence nets up and down the beaches and rivers. Read more here 08:14
