Is it all over but the funeral?

• Author: McCorkle, Vern
• Position: From the Publisher

When the leader of the world's No. 2 salmon farming nation was in Anchorage last month, he looked his audience right in the eye and ever so diplomatically told us that Alaska's wild salmon were no threat to Chile's farmed salmon. Chile sold more than 660 million pounds of finished salmon last year, about 45 percent of it to the U.S. In terms of future Chilean sales growth, the U.S. has huge potential for the purchase of even more farm-reared salmon, he said. He made no bones about it. It was a straightforward report on what is taking place in the market, and what is going to happen in the near future. It was just business, he said. For that matter Chile and Alaska might even align for comarketing in Europe.

Never before had we heard it so clearly and so matter-of-factly put. In the greater scheme of things, Alaska just doesn't matter much any more on the world salmon market. Talk about a stab to the heart! For those who had the wits to understand what the man was saying, it was a real wake-up call.

Great credit and thanks is due Robin Richardson, executive director of the World Trade...