At 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning, more than 100 boats had been anchored at the Naknek River entrance, some after having spent the night fishing in the Naknek-Kvichak. Ivan Basargin of the fishing vessel Top Notch was one of the boats. He was present to participate in the protest against this year’s low prices.
Basargin has been fishing at Bristol Bay since the late 1980s, and has built fishing boats in the off-season. As he sat in the wheelhouse his boat Basargin said that this year’s low-cost season hit him hard.
“I’m paying my employees. I’m also going make my payments. For living expenses go, I’ve not decided yet. The fifty cents I earn, when I return home, it’s going to be an empty sum. I’m not likely to keep any money in the bank,” he said.
The organizers of the protest have urged processors to reconsider and raise the price of their base product this season, which is now 50 cents per kilogramjust half the amount of the cost last year.
If the price isn’t changed Many fishermen believe it’s not sustainable for the industry, and some even say they’ll be unable to pay their bills. Basargin claimed he was in the waters protesting over the possibility that taking a chance that accepting this year’s low base price would set an example.
“If they find out that we could catch fish for fifty cents, we’ll get 30 cents the following year,” the man said. “That could be the case if we do any thing. As we did today, this is a peaceful demonstration. We’re not trying to stop individuals or anything. We’re simply trying to show the world we’re hurting and need assistance.”
Basargin stated that processors claim they’re struggling financially as well, however, he hasn’t seen any evidence of this.
“After record-breaking fish catch in the last few years, fish processors have been lamenting that they’re losing a lot of cash. I can see processors growing. I can see they are buying out other companies,” he said. “If you think about the situation it’s as if they’re placing a burden on us. They’re adding their profits, and they’re expanding their operations.”
Trident Seafoods was the first to announce the base price on Sunday. It comes along with a few handling bonuses 15 cents for refrigerated ocean water and Ice, for the drift fleet, five cents for floating, and ten cents to stop bleeding. North Pacific Seafoods announced the same thing a few days later and so did Peter Pan Seafoods, who offers a 20 cent reward for “late time” fishing after the 18th of July.
Protest organizers also urged processors to start posting an initial price prior to the start of. In the past, Peter Pan Seafoods posted an early June price and was a huge hit with fishermen. In this year’s edition, the processors have not announced the price for Bristol Bay before fishing started. Fran Kaul, who has been a long-time captain, believes that knowing the low cost fishermen might have made a different decision.
“It’s extremely interesting that the price went out almost at the final day of this season. The fish were all there was it not? The fish was caught. Then Trident publishes fifty cents per pounds,” she said.
Cheyne Blough was a fishing guide in Alaska for the past 35 years. He is a fisherman for Trident and was a part of this protest, which was prompted by Trident’s price-announcement letter addressed to their fleet. His children fish on his boat during summer however he has dissuaded his kids from investing in the fishing industry.
“The one thing you do not want your children to do is be entangled in many thousands of debt and be ripped out of the rug from underneath their feet,” he said. “And this is what’s happening. I didn’t imagine it could occur this way, or this quickly.”
Inflation-adjusted Adjusted for inflation, this year’s base cost is the lowest price recorded for nearly 40 years since 1984. With no adjustment for inflation the price this year remains the third-lowest and the lowest price was in 2001.
However, Blough claims he’s seen high-quality of fish that is sold to processors increase over the time. This is due to fishermen’s investments in machinery and labor according to Blough however, this isn’t reflected in the prices that processors offer.
“We’ve received requests to do costly capital improvements. an ordinary RSW (refrigerated seawater) system. We hire an additional deckhand so that we can cut the fish. They have quality control personnel who say to every tender “your fish is great and your fish isn’t You need to improve”” He said.
Blough claims that fishermen pay the costs associated with these changes, yet they don’t profit from the revenues.
“And what will we receive in exchange? We only pay a fraction of the price. In my opinion, processors must improve their performance. It’s hard to believe I’ve fished for 35 years, and yet I’m still being able to fish for less prices than I was when I was a teenager,” he said.
Kelly Stier on the F/V Honey Badger, says processors profit from fishermen because they know there are limited options for buyers in the area.
“We’re out there and the processors are aware that. They’ve got us and it requires an enormous amount of infrastructure, and they have costs in their own sphere of operations However, I believe they’ve benefited from us since they are aware that they’ve got us in an impasse,” he said.
Anna Mounsey is a new captain on the fish vessel Syren. She claims that younger crew members, as she is, are pondering whether this is a business worthwhile to invest in.
“As a novice fisherman and new skipper trying to get a foothold in this new fishery that’s just getting started but the unsustainable costs and price fluctuations, (we’re) just seeing whether it’s feasible,” she said. “With the amount it fluctuates as well as the fact that we can’t guarantee payments on boats, as well as all the other costs that accompany starting out, especially when you’re young. With this fleet aging away with no hope for us young fishermen have in the uncertainty of the market?”
KDLG repeatedly sent emails and phone calls for comments from the top processors – Trident Seafoods, OBI Seafoods, North Pacific Seafoods, Silver Bay Seafoods and Peter Pan Seafoods -however, they did not receive a response.
A few fishing teams were aware of the news regarding prices and decided to end their season. Others continued to fish, in a season otherwise robust that has yielded more than 36 million fish so far.
