Troubled waters: Alaska fisheries review.

• Author: Gay, Joel
• Position: Cover Story - Industry Overview

Alaska commercial fishermen had a boatload of trouble in 1995 - low prices, crashing crab fisheries - and now sport fishermen want more of the allocation.

1995 was no cakewalk for Alaska's commercial fishermen. They caught more salmon than ever before but saw their prices erode as farmed fish continue their assault on the world market. Halibut fishermen had to learn an entirely new way to fish and then failed to catch all they could have. Crab stocks all over the state crashed, closing some of the most lucrative fisheries. And commercial fishers came under increasing pressure from sport and personal use fishermen all along the Pacific coast who want a greater share of Alaska's bounty.

What 1996 will bring is anyone's guess, but it looks to be another tough year on almost every front.

As usual, salmon garnered the biggest headlines of 1995 and when the season was finally over, a new catch record was set. Never before had Alaska fishermen harvested the magic number of 200 million fish. 1995's landings amounted to 217 million, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game statistician Herman Savikko. "We could have caught 4 or 5 million more, but they ran out of tin, cardboard and interest," he says.

Tumbling Prices

Such a phenomenal harvest should be reason to celebrate, but the catch only exacerbated already glutted markets. Wholesale and retail prices have tumbled from Tokyo to Terre Haute, yet frozen and canned salmon holdings were at record levels early in the winter, according to the Salmon Market Information Service of the University of Alaska Anchorage.

The glut results from record catches in Alaska in four of the past five years, plus ever-increasing production from salmon farms in Norway, Chile, Ireland, Canada and elsewhere. In addition, huge hatcheries in Japan have come online that churn out millions of fish, and Russian salmon fishermen are now putting their fish on the market. The total tonnage of salmon available worldwide in 1995 was twice what it was in 1987, the service reported recently.

Prices have declined steadily as a result. But starting last fall, wholesale salmon buyers began flexing their economic muscle like never before and it sent a chill through the Alaska fishing industry. In Tokyo, importers refused to buy for several months because they simply didn't need the fish. The price plummeted to record lows-below the cost of production-forcing at least one Alaska processor, Inlet Fisheries, to file for Chapter 11...