Impact of fishery closure extends beyond the coast

The decimation of wild fall Chinook due to poor management of the Klamath River has forced fishery managers to close commercial salmon seasons on the Oregon coast which, in turn, created problems for processors, seafood markets, gear stores and other businesses, both on the coast and inland.

World Photo by Susan Chambers. Chinook and a couple coho salmon swim in a holding tank at the Noble Creek fish hatchery in Greenacres on Friday.

This is the first in a series of reports on why salmon is at the top of the financial seafood chain and the impacts of this season's closure on the industry, local communities and fishermen.

CHARLESTON - It's been a wild ride.

This year's salmon season - or lack of it on the South Coast - has had profound effects on local commercial fishing fleets. Boats have been idled while trollers search for other work or change their gear to try fishing for tuna, groundfish or crab. Some trollers also fished north of Florence, during seasons that had limited openings, or north of Cape Falcon, where the season was in full swing.

The problems stem from a river that twists and turns its way from Southern Oregon to the ocean in Northern California. Wild Chinook returns, forecasted to be below a sustainable threshold on the Klamath River, forced managers to restrict the seasons.

But the king salmon's reach goes far beyond coastal towns. Like the rivers that wind inland, processed salmon finds its way to restaurants in the Midwest. To seafood stores all over the country. To resorts and casinos.

It's a Northwest icon.

Locally, the closures and limited seasons affected other businesses in coastal communities: gear stores, electronics shops, large and small processors, restaurants and more. Even to seafood markets in Seattle - the West's metro version of a seafood town if ever there was one - Chinook from the West Coast is an important ingredient, despite Alaska's overwhelming presence in Seattle and its environs.

But not always.

“Chinook is a drop in the bucket of all the salmon on the market,” University of Alaska economics professor Gunnar Knapp, who studies fishing issues, said in April, prior to the season closure. “My general impression is that while it would be a huge deal for the fishermen involved, it would not be a big deal for the world salmon market, or salmon markets in general.”

Alaska's seafood industry dwarfs the West Coast's not only in terms of geography, but also in terms of value and volume.

For instance, take Chinook: The value of Chinook to Alaska fishermen this year was $27.14 million, according to preliminary numbers from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Four other species of Alaska salmon - sockeye, coho, pink and chum - account for greater value. The total for all salmon species is $308.8 million.

On the West Coast, preliminary figures from the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission show Chinook was responsible for $10.5 million to fishermen this year. In Oregon, that figure drops to $2.13 million, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported in October.

Salmon demand

Salmon also loses its significance when stacked against other species in Washington, Oregon and California. Whopper Dungeness crab seasons are the reigning kings of seafood value: $103.5 million alone in 2006. Groundfish is a distant second, at $48.8 million so far; coastal pelagics such as sardines and squid are third at $33.2 million; highly migratory species such as albacore, swordfish and shark are fourth at $16.9 million. Pink shrimp brought in the least, $6 million.

None of that really matters in the marketplace, though.

Customers ask for salmon.

And they're willing to shell out $20 a pound for wild fish.

Of all the products that Wild Salmon Seafood Market, at Fishermen's Terminal in Seattle, sells, salmon is the product buyers are looking for.

“Far and away,” owner Jon Speltz said.

Speltz said he has several places from which he buys fish, including Oregon. It's always a test to find the best kings for the best price, he said.

“We're always looking for good quality,” Speltz said. “Oregon's been a good source of king salmon since forever but we've purchased very few Oregon kings this year.”

As a result, the price to consumers has gone through the roof. Instead of paying an average of $12.99 a pound for Oregon Chinook filets, customers at Wild Salmon's seafood counter are paying between $14 and $16 a pound, Speltz said.

That's a deal, too, he said. At other places in Seattle and around the country, filets are going for upwards of $20 a pound, prices more closely resembling prices for the famous Alaska Copper River salmon that hits the market in mid-May and June.

Those few dollars a pound are enough to change some customers' buying habits in at least two ways: They either won't buy as much or they will seek a substitute.

Neither are good prospects for the West Coast salmon industry.

Market loss

Losing market share is something fishermen have feared for months and warned managers about early this year.

Trollers endured low prices for their fish for years in the 1990s while trying to regain a toehold in the marketplace. Farmed salmon was prominent - and still is - as a substitute for wild fish.

Customers, however, have increasingly chosen wild Chinook in the marketplace, but that preference tends to wane the further a buyer is from the coast.

“Wild kings are going to lose placement on the menu,” Speltz said, noting that next year, when the season is expected to be as bad or worse than this year, he likely will try to sell more sockeye and coho. Farmed fish is not available at Wild Salmon Seafood.

“Once there is a switch like that, it usually takes years to get back,” Speltz said.

Processors, too, are losing customers.

Hallmark Fisheries production manager Scott Adams said in July that it takes a choice of available species to sell just one.

Fishermen and processors still are recovering from six years ago, when groundfish was declared a failure. The combination of the loss of salmon and only limited supplies of rockfish are making it tougher for companies to sell their seafood. Boxes specifically designed for Hallmark's signature salmon program remain stacked in a storeroom at the Charleston plant.

“If you have that shopping list - fresh filets, fresh crab, etc. - everything works in conjunction,” Adams said. “If you start taking things away, then they buy only certain things from us. ... They have to stay with the company that supplies the most of what they need.”

Quantity, too, cuts both ways: Oftentimes, small, limited catches weren't cost-effective to ship to distributors. At the other end of the marketing chain, consumers wincing from the high retail price of Chinook bought less, too.

“Lots of times in the past, we'd sell a whole fish,” Speltz said. Wild Salmon would filet it into portions so customers could freeze it and enjoy salmon later.

At current prices, each fish is worth a small fortune. A small, 10-pound king salmon could cost upwards of $200.

“Now they're buying for one meal instead of a whole fish,” Speltz said.

Limits of 75 fish per week to fishermen on some parts of the coast compounded processors' problems during the summer. Sure, the demand for salmon was there, but it wasn't enough fish to put on a truck, Adams said.

The lack of salmon has sent processors, such as Hallmark, in search of other buyers. It's also sent Speltz and other buyers in search of fish.

“Anybody in the fish business, in general, knows supply disruptions are the norm,” Knapp said. “Every year is up and down. You have to be flexible and know about other sources.”

By the numbers

Chinook is a small part of the overall seafood industry, but it contributes quite a bit when taken into account with other fisheries. Processors depend on it to sell other species and fishermen depend on it for income. Consumers in land-locked states also ask for Chinook or king salmon, an icon of the Pacific Northwest.

$308.8 million

Total value of all species of salmon

harvested in Alaska in 2006

$27.1 million

Total value of Chinook caught

in Alaska in 2006

$2.27

Average price per pound paid to Alaska fishermen for Chinook in 2005

$2.77

Average price per pound paid to Alaska fishermen for Chinook in 2006

$27.7 million

Total value of Chinook caught

on the West Coast in 2005

$10.5 million

Total value of Chinook caught

on the West Coast in 2006

$2.34

Average price per pound paid to West Coast fishermen for Chinook in 2005

$3.91

Average price per pound paid to West Coast fishermen for Chinook in 2006

Sources: Alaska Department of Fish and Game; Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission