June 6, 2025 — On a sunny day in an otherwise dreary spring, Cynthia Adams was catching up with fellow fisherman in Haines’ small boat harbor during the runup to the summer salmon season.
Stepping onto her boat, she apologized for the smell wafting through her 1980s cream-colored, fiberglass sternpicker.
“Sorry,” she said. “It smells a little bit like a fishing boat.”
The vessel, dubbed the Ladyhawke, has earned its scent. Adams has fished for salmon in the Upper Lynn Canal for 25 years. But in that time, all of her costs have soared as fish prices have stagnated.
Amid the squeeze, she said she constantly weighs whether one of those expenses – insurance – is worth it.
“I haven’t had to use it ever and it just keeps going up and up and up,” Adams said. “So you just have to stop and think, OK, is this in my budget? Is this smart?”
Adams said she will pay about $500 per month for crew insurance this season – more than twice what it was several years ago. On top of that, she paid more than $4,000 to insure her boat for the summer. She estimates that’s about four times what it cost when she first started.
Insurance for commercial fishermen has never been cheap. But the cost has risen dramatically in recent years, experts say. The result: major financial strain for fishermen, like Adams, who still pay for it. Others forgo it entirely, leaving them with no financial protection in the case of disaster.
That’s a risky situation, said Susan Erickson, owner of P-W Insurance Inc., an independent insurance agency based in Petersburg.
“If it’s your boat and you’re a one-man operation and your boat sinks, that’s your choice,” Erickson said. “But if you’ve got a deckhand that is injured on your vessel, you are responsible.”
In response, state lawmakers have passed legislation that could provide an alternative path — part of a broader effortto boost the beleaguered industry