Countdown to a disaster request begins The commercial season for pink salmon is done in Prince William Sound with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reporting a harvest of barely […]
Welfare time?
Predictable crash
The up-down cycle of AK salmon Alaska’s ironic commercial salmon fishing business appears to be inching ever closer to a replay of the great crash of 2020. The catch that year […]
Mandated inefficiency
The benefits and the cost Twenty-five-years ago economist Steve Colt wrote an “economic history” of “Salmon Fish Traps in Alaska” that ended with this line: “It may be time for Alaskans to […]
Bad business
Battering the AK brand Alaska now enters the heart of the commercial salmon season with the fishing industry in chaos. In a commentary in the trade publication Seafood Source, seafood industry consultant […]
Falling prices
Copper River salmon prices nosedive After Alaska’s 2023 commercial salmon season from hell, the 2024 season is underway with more whimper than bang. Gone is the traditional early season show that […]
Salmon subterfuge
How America stole Canada’s fish HOUSTON, British Columbia, Canada – Here in the “Steelhead Capital of the World” along the banks of the Bulkley River, the fish still come back from the […]
Alaska delusions
The great takeover of federal waters Oh if only the facts were as a trio of Alaska House legislators would like their colleagues to believe. They’ve drafted a resolution calling on Congress […]
Bailouts
Another bandaid on a gushing wound The Alaska Congressional delegation is singing praises for a new $100 million bailout of the state’s floundering commercial salmon processing business. In a joint statement […]
Fall of the kings
Are Alaska salmon farmers to blame? A news analysis The Seattle-area-based Wild Fish Conservancy has dropped a bomb on the Alaska commercial fishing industry with a petition to the federal government demanding […]
A business in crisis
Alaska salmon processors paint a grim picture After years of choking on record runs of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon and near-record runs of heavily farmed, low-value pink salmon, the Alaska fishing industry […]
