Casting about for solutions.

• Author: Gay, Joel
• Position: Fishery industry in Alaska - Commercial Fishing Focus - Industry Overview

All around the world, including the world of Alaska commercial fishermen, 1991 was a year of revolution. But 1992 looks to be a year of resolution. And while the violent throes of transformation within the fishing community may not subside altogether, Alaska business leaders may see the industry pulling together out of necessity.

Alaska's fisheries fall into two distinctly different segments and each was shaken to its roots in 1991. The state-managed, near-shore fisheries of salmon, herring and crab were affected mostly by external forces: abundant natural production, market saturation, salmon farming and a decline in Japanese spending power. The federally managed offshore fisheries of halibut, sablefish, pollock and cod were rocked by internal battles: Who gets the fish now that the foreigners are gone and the fleet has grown?

For 1992, biologists say Alaska can expect continued high production in salmon, crab and herring, and market analysts tentatively predict salmon prices to inch upward. Washington, D.C., will decide how things turn out for the groundfish fleet.

SALMON. Japan plays a major role in the health of Alaska's fisheries -- as it is the single largest consumer of Alaska seafood -- and 1991 burned that fact into fishermen's minds. Throughout the 1980s, state fishermen basked in the warm glow of Japan's economic afterburners, when the yen grew to record strength against the dollar and the average consumer's buying power tripled. But as Japan's economy cools off, the state's fishing industry has lost considerable momentum.

It was most evident last June when Bristol Bay sockeye buyers offered 47 cents a pound for fish that fetched $2.25 in 1988. Almost every salmon fleet in Alaska struck for higher prices, but settled for perhaps the lowest since limited entry was established, given the ravages of inflation. Bristol Bay sockeyes earned just 70 cents a pound; pinks were worth only 12 to 15 cents a pound in the major fisheries.

Many fishermen were prepared for the price decline, though perhaps not as drastic a drop as they got. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute had outlined the problems facing fishermen and processors well before the 1991 season began in a report called "Salmon 2000," and all but predicted the severe price cuts: Farmed salmon production grew 40-fold in the 1980s, while Alaska and Canada had record natural runs in the same period; Japanese buyers eventually balked at the high prices; and canned salmon consumption dropped in the United States and Europe. By 1991, the four factors combined to create a colossal surplus of fresh, frozen and canned salmon throughout the world.

The summer did little to relieve the glut, however. Fishermen sat on the beach the first week of the Bristol Bay season and allowed 7 million sockeyes to escape upriver, but still harvested more than 26 million fish -- the fourth highest catch ever. Receiving only 70 cents a pound, many asked Gov. Walter Hickel to declare the region an economic disaster area. He declined.

Kodiak fishermen landed a record 24 million salmon (all species). But 1991, worth just $31 million, was among the least valuable seasons ever for the island's fleet.

Cook Inlet had one of its worst...