The Fish Ticket
August 31, 2024
Permits & State Fisheries
Cook Inlet drift permits have slipped slightly, with a sale this week at $36,000 and a current high offer of $34,000. Southeast drift permits are at $46,000. We have a new offer of $53,000 for a Bristol Bay setnet permit.
ASMI's Weekly Salmon Harvest Update shows YOY sockeye harvests down 20%, pinks down 46%, silvers down 54%, and Chinooks down 25%. The supply of frozen sockeye has dried up and prices are now on the rise. After a serious oversupply in 2022, the freezers were finally emptied this spring and markets were ready for fresh salmon. Now, as the season winds down and frozen inventory is available again, prices are higher than they were pre-Covid. Meanwhile, the pink salmon season was "an absolute disaster" and some members of the PWS fleet are working on a disaster declaration. With poor runs in both Alaska and Russia, the global supply of pink salmon is over 80% below last year’s and nearly half of 2022.
IFQs & Federal Fisheries
Very little action in the quota market during the last week. Sellers continue to reduce their asking prices, with unfished 3A blocked quota listed now for as low as $23.00 per pound and unfished 3A unblocked quota on the board at $28.50. Poor salmon seasons, concerns about the health of the resource, higher production costs and lackluster ex-vessel prices have kept potential buyers sitting on the sidelines. Dock prices for halibut in Homer continued to slip over the last week with one buyer paying $5.25/$5.50/$5.75 and $5.25 for the 60 ups and another buyer offering $5.00 straight. Seward was paying $5.25/$5.50/$5.75 about a week ago and a delivery into Ketchikan a couple of days ago went for $5.25/$5.50.
We have an offer of $7.00 for larger blocks of unfished SE sablefish quota, which is the first offer on that in quite some time. If you have a block that you’d consider selling, please give us a call! Dock prices for sablefish appear to be inching upwards slightly, at least for the smaller fish. A delivery into Kodiak fetched <2 $.40, 2-3 $1.25, 3-4 $1.70, 4-5 $2.35, 5-7 $3.80, 7 ups $6.50 this week, which is up slightly from the week before. (If you find these dock prices useful, and you’re making a delivery or have delivered recently, please let us know what you got paid. Especially for black cod!)
According to ASMI's August Groundfish Report, the halibut harvest is down 4% YOY and the sablefish harvest is down 17%.
The statewide halibut TAC is 57% harvested, with 2C at 66%, 3A at 66%, 3B at 58%, 4A at 38%, 4B at 16%, and 4C/D at 20%. The statewide sablefish TAC is 40% landed, with AI still at 3%, BS at 20%, CG at 53%, SE at 54%, WG at 36% and WY at 73%.
What Else?
The Alaska Bycatch Advisory Council will meet remotely at 9:00 am September 3, which will focus on bycatch research recommendations and bycatch-related research priorities by the NPFMC, and include time for public comment.
The National Commercial Fishing Safety Advisory Committee will meet in Anchorage September 10-11 to "review, discuss, and make recommendations to the Coast Guard on matters relating to marine investigation cases and other relevant initiatives pertaining to commercial fishing vessels."
And apparently the Alaska's new Seafood Industry Task Force met recently, although it seems as if no public notice was given.
It seems the rest of the world is running a bit short on cod right now. In Norway, fishermen are facing a potential 31% cut to the Barents Sea cod TAC. Elsewhere, the ban on Russian seafood appears to be doing what it was intended to, and US exports of cod are way up. Maybe we won't see processors close their doors and fishermen skip out on cod season this year!
Alaska's candidates for US House of Representatives will meet in Kodiak for the annual Fisheries Debate on October 8. The debate will also be streamed live. Click here for more information or to submit questions.
Fishermen around Kodiak are seeing more salmon sharks and researchers aren't sure why.
In a recently published study, researchers were able to attribute the Bering Sea snow crab collapse to climate change with 98% certainty. That's pretty certain.
This week's Alaska Fisheries Report: a warmer future for arctic waters, and objections to listing GOA Chinook salmon as endangered.
Here's the most recent episodes of the Bering Sea Barometer with Captain Pete Neaton.
