The Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission posts permit values for state fisheries, catch share transactions are overseen by federal managers, and brokers track and list actual asking prices and offers for the whole, well, kettle of fish.
A sampler from four brokerage websites shows hefty increases in values nearly across the board:
For Alaska's bellwether salmon fishery at Bristol Bay, most drift permits are being offered at $160,000 -- up from $132,000 last October, and more than double the price in 2009.
The asking price for a Prince William Sound salmon drift permit tops $180,000, an increase of $20,000 from last fall. Southeast drifts are listed at $90,000 to $150,000, an increase of $30,000. Cook Inlet driftnet permits are in the $50,000 to $60,000 range, similar to last year. Offers for Area M/Alaska Peninsula drift permits range from $140,000 to $150,000. A Yukon River salmon gillnet permit is valued at $9,500 to 11,000.
Chignik seine permits top the list with an asking price of $200,000, followed by Prince William Sound seine permits at $150,000. Kodiak seine permits are about $50,000, up from about $30,000 last year. Two Southeast seine permits recently sold for $125,000.
A permit to pot shrimp in Southeast costs $18,000 to $25,000. For Southeast Dungeness crab, permits range from $12,000 to $50,000, based on the number of pots. Kodiak Tanner crab permits are listed at $35,000 to $80,000. A dive permit for Southeast's cucumber fishery can be had for $90,000.
The most expensive Alaska fishing permit by far is for seine herring at Sitka - the state value is $540,000 and asking prices top $600,000.
Looking at values for Alaska's catch share fisheries:
Prices have blown past last year's high of $28 a pound for halibut quota. In the most prime fishing regions of Southeast Alaska and the central Gulf, halibut shares now range from $30 to $36 per pound.
For the Western Gulf, the price range is $19 to $30 a pound; halibut shares for the Aleutians and Bering Sea regions go from $11 to $18 a pound.
Black cod individual fishing quota prices are ratcheting upwards at $22 to $32 for shares in Southeast Alaska, and $22 to $28 a pound in the Central Gulf, up slightly from last year.
In the Western Gulf, black cod quota shares are selling for $11 to $15 a pound, and $3 to $15 a pound in the Aleutians and Bering Sea.
No listings were reported for catch share sales of Bering Sea crab.
SITKA SALMON LESSONS
"This town runs on fish" is the message visitors hear on the Sitka Salmon Tours -- a walking tour right in town.
"Sitka has all of these unique salmon sites within a mile and a quarter of one another," said Nic Mink, an environmental studies professor and tour director. The outreach is a community collaborative of 15 local groups and businesses, backed by the Sitka Conservation Society.
Mink said two things seem to fascinate tour-takers the most. The first is how much labor goes into producing the fish.
"From the catchers to the processors -- when they get inside a processing plant and see the men and women working the slime line, they are literally blown away. It makes them really understand why our product costs more at the supermarket," he said.
The other surprise for tour-takers is that the salmon's journey does not begin in the sea -- but in streams of the Tongass National Forest, which produce about 30 percent of Alaska's wild salmon.
Mink said the $30 tours appeal to people who "don't have the big bucks to go charter fishing, or flying, or don't want to take an expansive wilderness excursion."
Interested? Check out www.sitkasalmontours.com
Laine Welch is a Kodiak-based fisheries journalist. Her Fish Radio programs can be heard on stations around the state. Her column appears on Sundays in the Daily News. This material is protected by copyright. For information on reprinting or placing on your website or newsletter, contact msfish@alaska.com.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.