Posted on 08/29/2023 6:17:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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.”
It’s been a tough year for commercial salmon fishermen. Three years of huge returns in Bristol Bay created a surplus of sockeye in the market. Towards the end of the season, processors announced a base price of just 50 cents per pound – the lowest price in decades, when adjusted for inflation.
Fishermen can get bonuses for better quality, but Friccero said even with the boost, he was better off gearing up to fish for other species like halibut.
“If you’re catching 5,000 pounds and you’re thinking 80 cents, then your crew’s share might be $400,” he said. “Well that’s worth doing for folks, but once it drops into the lower figures, if you have crew that have talent, they’ve got other things they want to get over to.”
Friccero said he usually leaves shortly after the peak anyway, but he wasn’t the only one packing up before August.
The Bristol Bay base price for sockeye was one of the lowest prices for Alaskan salmon in recent history. Since then, Trident has dropped their price for chum down to just 20 cents per pound in response to massive harvests in Russia and announced they will stop buying salmon from most communities in Alaska, starting Sept. 1.
Fishermen across the state are wondering how long the low salmon prices will last. Some are even considering selling their boats.
Gunnar Knapp is an economist who specializes in the state’s fisheries. He said for the sake of both fishermen and processors, he hopes that this is just a one-year blip instead of the beginning of a long term pattern.
“To get the lowest price you’ve ever gotten while you’re working just as hard as you ever did, and other expenses like fuel have gone up – it puts fishermen in a really tough position,” Knapp said. “I think processors would also say that they’re in a really tough position and their companies are on the line.”
Knapp was visiting family in Maryland when he saw in retail stores that wild caught seafood is now selling for the same price as farmed fish. He said he’s not surprised but still disappointed knowing the amount of work processors and fishermen do to produce high quality products.
“I was in a local Costco yesterday, and I saw in that Costco, farmed Atlantic filets from Chile and farmed Atalntic filets from Norway and wild Alaska sockeye all selling for $10.99 a pound,” he said.
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is funded by the State Legislature to stir demand for Alaskan products. Greg Smith, the institute’s communications director, said there just isn’t enough demand to keep up with the glut of fish.
“There’s difficult issues in the global marketplace – inflation, increased cost of living, shipping costs, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so there are just significant challenges,” he said.
Fishermen started the season with some processors still holding frozen product from last year’s harvest.
The seafood marketing institute received an extra $5 million in funding this year to better compete in global markets. But even with extra funding, staff are unsure if their short-term efforts like retail displays and working with food writers will help much. Smith said one of the institute’s bigger projects is investing in new markets across the globe.
“We’re focusing on emerging markets, Latin America, parts of Africa, we’re doing some things in Israel but it is just really trying to build off the strength of the brand,” Smith said.
Smith said they’ve had some success with retail and restaurants, and even worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to include salmon in purchases for school lunches and food banks. Alaska’s senators also brought the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture committee to Kodiak to make the case that fishermen should be included in the upcoming farm bill.
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.
The low prices this year has pushed several fishermen to call for better transparency from processors. Friccero said a guaranteed minimum price would be the best possible starting point to build more trust.
“Looking for transparency, anything would improve it right – because there’s almost none,” he said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re being mistreated in any way, it’s just very hard to have a conversation with no information.”
Regardless, Friccero said he’ll be back to fish more next year.
Pink or Humpie is the cheapest salmon, followed by Chum. Only Huppies are caught with a seine, all others by gillnet or hook.
King salmon are preferred over Sockeye by most, as they are richer in flavor. Sockeye are more plentiful and therefore less expensive; Reds are also easier to handle being only 5.2 lb on average, while Kings can be up to 50 lbs.
Smoked Coho is usually considered better then other smoked salmon varieties. Lightly smoked King Lox, is preferred for a a morning snack with a fresh bagel and cream cheese.
The problem I mention is everyone in between the fishermen and the retail end consumer. They are both getting shafted by the price gouging middlemen. It is the same in the Beef business. It is the same with most products now. The middlemen are not satisfied with a “fair” mark up, they want 200% mark up in between. The problem is people who are stupid enough to pay these prices rather than boycott that unreasonable markup.
In the old days suppliers would openly share their cost prices so that the end consumer could see that they were actually getting a “fair markup price”.
“Yet it is $9.00 lb in the grocery store and more at the local fish markets.”
$16 a pound at retail stores. If this isn’t price gouging then what is?
The story sounds like an Alaska story but the glut is likely due to the salmon farms thousands of miles South of Alaska in Chile. That and genetically modified salmon that grow twice as fast. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AquAdvantage_salmon
You'll see Chile farm raised salmon labeled as Atlantic Salmon and technically, that's true.
So how does the fisherman know that the “wild” fish they caught was raised in a hatchery?
L
I’ve been getting smoked salmon for breakfast.
I believe the US, I’ll have to ask when I am in the store next. If the label said anything I don’t have it anymore.
Considering that Copper River salmon reached a peak of over $45/lb, it needs to come down.
Ive long believed that the US, and apparently now Canada, should have blocked immigration from the homeland of the Some.
Some people come here and develop a number of bizarre beliefs that occasionally infect society and eventually as time goes on we all have to suffer because of the actions and beliefs of Some stupid peoples children.
The farm raised salmon seems to have dropped but I won't eat it farmed.
It seems the supermarket retailers are keeping wild caught high because they know that people who prefer wild caught tend to be affluent and can thus afford the higher prices.
Which is the point, sellers set the price at what they think enough people will be willing to pay for it. Has nothing to do with the costs of production and distribution.
I don’t know where you got your information, but having lived on the west coast for a lot longer than anywhere else, my experiences and information differ. A lot.
Taste-wise, bluebacks (that year’s coho, just a little past the smelt stage at 6-8”) are absolutely the very best, then sockeye and chinook, which are very close and both are tops, closely followed by adult coho and pink.
There is a reason chum/keta is called dog salmon. Their flavor is not that pleasant, which is why they are normally used as animal feed, starting long before the settlers came.
Chum *ARE* the largest harvest, however, accounting for close to one-third of the annual tonnage landed. That would explain the dollar value of that catch being higher than the imputed values of the other species.
The absolutely best spread you can make for your bagel is canned smoked salmon of any of the tasty species.
“But I stay away from ANY food sourced in China.”
So do I. It’s a smart thing to do.
As usual, the commercial fisherman is the one getting the shaft. I am one. The price of fish goes down every year so the buyer and retailer can make more money. They are starving the fisherman right out of business.
Hatchery fish usually have their adipose fin clipped.
Thought it was Chinook, but I’m not sure.
Thanks for the detailed explanation.
Best,
L
Marijuana wins the middle-man award. They buy it from growers for $35 an oz and sell it retail for $250 an oz. Reason: It’s against the law for growers to sell directly to consumers
I shop at a local produce store, that they style as “farmer’s market”, but it’s actually just one business. When produce goes into over-supply they cut the price so it sells before it rots. Blueberries for 50 cents to $1 a pint, cherries for 99 cents a pound, large cucumbers for 17 cents each, are some examples. A package of 3 romaine hearts is often on sale for $1.50-$2.
In the chain supermarkets the cheapest I’ve seen cherries for is $1.99 per pound, which is also cheaper than past years.
On-sale chicken is now only slightly above pre-covid, at 99 cents a pound for thighs, 69 cents a pound for drumsticks, and $1.32 per pound for whole chickens.
Lamb chops are now 25% higher than pre-covid at $7.50 a pound, and most beef is also similarly higher. But Aldi has grass-fed 85% chopped beef on sale this week for $3.15 per pound.
Pre-covid I used to buy a 9.5 ounce can of coffee on sale for $2, and the lowest price I have seen recently is $3, which is 50% higher. I am very well stocked up at the lower price, so I will wait and see if it ever comes back.
My mama told me, you better shop around, and I do.
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