Bristol Bay Fishermen Striking To Protest Low Salmon Prices

Thousands of fishermen in Alaska's Bristol Bay, many of them from Western Washington, today declared a general strike to protest rock-bottom prices in what has been the world's richest salmon fishery.

"Everybody's tied up on the beach," said John Strong-Cvetich, a Bellevue resident and veteran Bristol Bay fisherman. "We're closing the place down."

Boat owners and crew members are furious at being offered 42 to 55 cents a pound for sockeye that earned $1.25 last year and $2.65 in 1988, he said.

The fishing fleet's lament may be good news for Seattle-area consumers, who may soon be buying fresh or frozen Alaska salmon at the lowest prices in more than a decade.

That may depend in part on whether today's shutdown turns into a full-fledged strike, which could allow millions of prized sockeye salmon to swim past the fishing grounds.

At a mass meeting yesterday in the fishing village of Naknek, some fishermen called for a blockade to prevent any boats from fishing the huge sockeye run.

"Nobody's doing anything crazy - so far," Strong-Cvetich said.

Alaska's Bristol Bay is considered to be the world's largest and most lucrative salmon fishery, generally producing more than 20 million fish, which sold for as much as $2.65 a pound during the 1980s. The total value of the fishery is in the hundreds of millions.

Bay fishing permits sell for as much as $250,000, and some fishermen have grossed more than $1 million in a season.

Anticipating another banner year, fisherman Tim Whalen said he recently paid $400,000 for his Bristol Bay gill-net boat and permit. "I'm up to my ears in debt and I can't make it at 45 cents a pound," he said.

This year, Alaska state biologists projected another big run of 26 million sockeye and recent test-fishing indicates it could be twice that, fishermen said.

Normally fishing begins by late June, peaks in the first week of July and tapers off by mid-July.

Prices have been declining steadily in recent years and Bristol Bay's fleet expected another drop this year. "But we never dreamed it would get down below 50 cents," Strong-Cvetich said.

Bay fishermen have conducted price strikes in past years, including a major strike in 1982.

Today's planned shutdown was unusual, however, in that it was to involve dozens of local businesses and government offices in fishing towns such as Naknek and King Salmon.

Even the regional airline that carries fishermen from Anchorage to the bay had promised to cancel flights to the area, fishermen said.

Many fishermen blamed the low prices on Japanese and Taiwanese drift-net fleets that are alleged to be intercepting millions of North American salmon in the North Pacific, driving down the price of legitimate fish.

For many years, much of the Bristol Bay catch has been bought by Japanese trading companies, which control a large part of the Alaska fish-processing industry.

But the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute warned earlier this year of a massive glut of salmon partly because of the enormous growth of salmon farming in British Columbia, Norway, Scotland and Chile.

Worldwide demand for salmon has increased slightly, but not nearly as much as the supply of farm and Alaska wild salmon.

"Some guys are talking general strike," said Seattle fisherman Scott Coughlin. "But the smart people are saying it's time to pay more attention to our markets. Maybe 50 cents a pound will be an opportunity to introduce more Americans to our product."