The drift fleet delivered 60 million pounds of chilled salmon to processors last summer, nearly double the 2008 delivery. Delivering this salmon in better condition means more is becoming pricier fillets and fresh/frozen products instead of going to the lower-value canning lines. And that means better paychecks for more than 1,300 bay fishermen.
Those are some of the results in a survey by Northern Economics of 11 major processors about their chilled fish purchases and their perceptions of how the Bristol Bay fishery is changing. The report was paid for by the fishermen-funded Regional Seafood Development Association, whose top goal is to improve fish quality in the bay.
"An ice bonus of 10 cents per pound is the rule of thumb, so that increased chilling conservatively resulted in an additional $2.7 million to $3 million in permit holders' pockets this year," said economist Jonathan King, lead report author.
The salmon are kept cold with slush ice or refrigerated sea water until the fishing boats deliver the fish to a dedicated tender or processing plant. For the past two years the RSDA has partnered with the fish processors to deploy ice-making platforms to fishermen. The amount of ice available last year increased from about 148,000 pounds per day to about 178,000 pounds.
"Icing on the grounds has a bigger impact on product quality than any other action we can take in Bristol Bay," said Tom Sunderland, marketing director for processor Ocean Beauty Seafoods.
The report shows that fresh/frozen fish production increased to more than 50 percent of all product harvested, up from 46.4 percent in 2008. Filleted product increased from 8.2 percent to 9.6 percent; meanwhile, canned salmon production dropped.
Despite the big push to "chill, baby, chill," however, 61 percent of the Bristol Bay fishing boats are still "dry." Not for long, predicts Bob Waldrop, BBRSDA director.
"That is the half-empty perspective. We are focusing on how fast the fishery is making the change from traditional habits to new techniques that until recently had been thought impossible to apply in the bay," Waldrop said. "Few fisheries are changing as fast as Bristol Bay. It is very encouraging."
The 2009 dockside value of the Bristol Bay salmon fishery was $127 million, compared to $116 million in 2008. Find the 2009 Bristol Bay Processors Survey at www.bbrsda.com.
Cash for catch shares
Saying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wants to "transform" the way fisheries are managed, federal managers have earmarked $54 million for national catch programs as part of the agency's $992 million budget for the next fiscal year.
The agency is proposing an additional $36.6 million to begin catch-share programs for New England and West Coast groundfish and some Gulf of Mexico fisheries, and to expand catch shares throughout the United States. In Alaska, halibut, sablefish and Bering Sea crab fisheries operate using catch share systems, allocating portions of the overall catch to individual boats.
At the same time, the feds and the state of Maine are setting up a commercial fishing permit bank to support small-scale fishermen. The state-run bank will buy and hold fishing permits, which entitle owners to a certain number of fishing days or pounds of fish. It will then divide the fishing rights and lease them to fishermen. The government permit bank is intended as a pilot program that could be copied elsewhere in the country.
Laine Welch is a Kodiak-based fisheries journalist. Her Fish Radio programs can be heard on stations around the state. Her information column appears every other Sunday. This material is protected by copyright. For information on reprinting or placing on your Web site or newsletter, contact msfish@alaska.com. Mike Mason with KDLG in Dillingham contributed this week.
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