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Each of those companies was complicit in creating that particular "price collapse."
For the record, not everyone paid those rock-bottom ex-vessel prices the large corporate processors decided on. It was business as usual for those of us who work primarily in hook-and-line, and we're expecting another good year.
Hook-and-line refers to small commercial vessels (typically called power trollers) that catch one fish at a time, for those who don't know. The catch is sold at the very high end of the market. Trollers are not the same thing as trawlers; pretty much the polar opposite, actually.
Trident announced their selloff last December.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 02-16-2024 at 01:32 AM..
Each of those companies was complicit in creating that particular "price collapse."
For the record, not everyone paid those rock-bottom ex-vessel prices the large corporate processors decided on. It was business as usual for those of us who work primarily in hook-and-line, and we're expecting another good year.
Hook-and-line refers to small commercial vessels (typically called power trollers) that catch one fish at a time, for those who don't know. The catch is sold at the very high end of the market. Trollers are not the same thing as trawlers; pretty much the polar opposite, actually.
Trident announced their selloff last December.
What fish species the trollers go for and are there any seasonal differences?
And what is the rough range of prices in that high end market?
Each of those companies was complicit in creating that particular "price collapse."
For the record, not everyone paid those rock-bottom ex-vessel prices the large corporate processors decided on. It was business as usual for those of us who work primarily in hook-and-line, and we're expecting another good year.
Hook-and-line refers to small commercial vessels (typically called power trollers) that catch one fish at a time, for those who don't know. The catch is sold at the very high end of the market. Trollers are not the same thing as trawlers; pretty much the polar opposite, actually.
Trident announced their selloff last December.
But, it still would seem that the market has shrunk and there will be less local people employed in the industry as a result of this. True?
Winter kings are at the very top of the market, but you won't see them made available to the average consumer. You can find them in Michelin-starred restaurants at $250+ per plate. But the average consumer can buy some perfectly good troll-caught coho for maybe $20 per pound. Prices change all the time though, and I haven't looked at coho lately.
Not much competition at that level. You really don't see them outside of the panhandle, and permits are limited.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 02-16-2024 at 11:31 AM..
But, it still would seem that the market has shrunk and there will be less local people employed in the industry as a result of this. True?
The bigger processing plants are mostly non-residents. Many are not even US residents. Most of the money leaves the state and provides little benefit to Alaska.
Smaller operations like Metlakatla is talking about are the exceptions and more of that money stays in-state. But, it is small in comparison to the big conglomerates like Trident.
But, it still would seem that the market has shrunk and there will be less local people employed in the industry as a result of this. True?
And there will be less fisheries taxes going into the Alaska General Fund.
This is absolutely no surprise to anyone in the industry, so at least they've had some time to prepare. It was clear from about last July that 2024 was going to be a bust. The large processors still have product from 2022 that they can't sell.
The majority of the "market shrinkage" is due to a decline of about 50% in exports to China thanks to the ongoing trade war that started in 2018.
Trident has already scaled back their bottom trawling in the Bering Sea, so now's our chance to find out the extent how much that activity is impacting our king runs.
The bigger processing plants are mostly non-residents. Many are not even US residents. Most of the money leaves the state and provides little benefit to Alaska.
.
It doesn't just affect processing workers. Many, if not most, of the affected fishing families are residents. The peripheral businesses like restaurants, bars, and stores will take a hit as well. It'll also reduce the amount of fisheries taxes the state receives, theoretically affecting everyone. Edit: in other words, the main benefit to the state in having these processors here is tax revenue rather than jobs; local governments in fishing towns receive a lot of their funding for critical services from fisheries taxes.
Edit: municipal taxes come into play as well. Kodiak enacts a seven percent sales tax, for instance, all of which remains there.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 02-16-2024 at 12:01 PM..
Each of those companies was complicit in creating that particular "price collapse."
For the record, not everyone paid those rock-bottom ex-vessel prices the large corporate processors decided on. It was business as usual for those of us who work primarily in hook-and-line, and we're expecting another good year.
Hook-and-line refers to small commercial vessels (typically called power trollers) that catch one fish at a time, for those who don't know. The catch is sold at the very high end of the market. Trollers are not the same thing as trawlers; pretty much the polar opposite, actually.
Trident announced their selloff last December.
Yes, it's more labor-intensive, but hook and line fishing doesn't indiscriminately destroy sea life as bycatch or wreck the seafloor as trawlers dragging huge nets across the bottom do. Definitely completely different classes of practices.
For several years here in the Phoenix area we've bought fish sticks at Costco sold by Trident; they seemed a decent quality.
I noted in the article that Biden finally nixxed importing seafood from Russia even though we put sanctions on Russia two years ago over the Ukraine invasion. It makes no sense to me that we let those imports continue.
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