Saving Seafood

ALAKSA: Digitizing Quality Monitoring in Bristol Bay Enters its Second Year

April 16, 2021 — The following was released by the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association:

Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association (BBRSDA), Certified Quality Foods (dba Seafood Analytics) and Digital Observers are teaming up for a second year to provide digital quality monitoring for the 2021 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon season. In 2020, despite of COVID challenges that infiltrated the region, the monitoring program was successfully completed. Quality measurements from over 6,000 sockeye salmon, off 200 boats, were taken by Digital Observers on five tenders through-out Bristol Bay. The Certified Quality Foods (CQF) cloud-based business intelligence platform analyzed the data and allowed for key takeaways around trendlines, comparisons between regions, seasons, boats, tenders etc. Generic reports were shared with leading industry professionals, while a detailed report with individual boat and tender names is available to the customer. A generic example of one of the reports can be seen here (https://mkcox.clicdata.com/b/bbrsdageneric).

Having a robust amount of data from the 2020 Bristol Bay sockeye season provides a valuable baseline for comparison of salmon quality and salmon fat content harvested each year.

During the 2021 fishing season, Quality Control technicians working on 15 tenders across Bristol Bay will measure the quality of salmon at the point of delivery using the noninvasive ‘Certified Quality Reader,’ a device that uses electrical currents to measure cell degradation of the salmon. It is a fast and objective way to measure the freshness of salmon that accounts for more than just temperature.

2021 is going to be a great year. The program is tripling its measurement capacity, and expanding from paper entry to digitized apps so other metrics such as odor, visual, temperature and whether the fish has been bled can be tracked in conjunction with quality measures. For an example of how a digital datasheet is used click here (https://youtu.be/rAQC0VZ1IEg).

Read the full release here

ALASKA: 2021 Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association Board Seat Candidates

March 12, 2021 — The following was released by the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association:

There are two open Board seats in this year’s election. A total of four members have been nominated and qualified as Board Seat Candidates:

Seat B (Alaska Resident Seat):

  • Tim Cook

  • George Wilson, Jr.

Seat E (Non-Alaska Resident Seat):

  • Larry Christensen

  • Michael Jackson

Candidate statements can be found on our website (LINK). Questionnaire answers from Candidates will be posted to the same link later this month.

BBRSDA Board members are elected to three-year terms (this year’s open seats will be up for re-election in 2024). Ballots will be mailed out to BBRSDA members in early April and election results will be posted to the BBRSDA website no later than May 13, 2021. See the Elections page for more information about the 2021 BBRSDA Board Seat Election timeline. BBRSDA members will also be able to submit write-in votes in this year’s election.

ALASKA: What is going on in Bristol Bay?

March 2, 2021 — Despite record retail prices and a consistently strong demand, Bristol Bay salmon fishermen saw a nearly 50 percent drop in their base ex-vessel price in 2020 — from $1.35 a pound in 2019 to $0.70 in 2020. That’s a 65-cent drop in a single year.

The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association published a new report that lays out likely reasons for the low base price. It also offers the region’s fishermen a range of solutions to consider for the future, and is seeking feedback from stakeholders to help set goals for the association.

“Demand for Bristol Bay sockeye is very high. Retail prices are at record levels. Anecdotally, wholesale prices are flat to up compared to last year — significantly so for once-frozen fillets,” says the BBRSDA’s white paper, released Monday, March 1. “When consumer prices are high or increasing for a product, the underlying raw material price usually goes up, not way down. In short, 2020 should have been a terrific season for Bristol Bay fishermen and ex-vessel prices, but it wasn’t (or at least it hasn’t been thus far).”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

BBRSDA report addresses Alaska fleet’s frustration over huge drop in salmon ex-vessel prices

March 2, 2021 — Despite record retail prices and a consistently strong demand, Bristol Bay salmon fishermen saw a nearly 50 percent drop in their base ex-vessel price in 2020 – from USD 1.35 (EUR 1.12) per pound in 2019 to USD 0.70 (EUR 0.58) in 2020, a USD 0.65 (EUR 0.54) drop in a single year.

The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association has published a new report that lays out likely reasons for the low base price. It also offers the region’s fishermen a range of solutions to consider for the future, and is seeking feedback from stakeholders to help set goals for the association.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Sockeye salmon retail prices at record winter highs, but uncertainty looms

February 5, 2021 — Retail prices for sockeye salmon have been at historical highs for the past three months, largely driven by a 25 percent drop in global supply in 2020.

For Q1 up through 27 January, wild sockeye salmon fillets averaged USD 12.07 (EU 10.05), the highest quarterly average since 2012, according to figures cited by the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association (BBRSDA).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MJ JACKSON: Bristol Bay: ‘Now is the time to prioritize protection’

December 14, 2020 — As a 32-year Bristol Bay fisherman and vice president of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association (BBRSDA), I appreciated The Seattle Times editorial “Salmon-rich Bristol Bay deserves permanent protection” [Dec. 2, Opinion].

Thousands of fishermen like myself have struggled alongside Bristol Bay tribes, Alaskans and beyond for more than a decade fighting Pebble Mine. The recent denial of Pebble’s permit was a huge victory, yet Bristol Bay remains vulnerable until permanent protections are in place. Now is the time to prioritize protection of Bristol Bay’s renewable economic engine and Indigenous culture.

Read the full opinion piece at The Seattle Times

ALASKA: Lower supplies of wild Pacific salmon by major producers push up prices

October 7, 2020 — Now that the 2020 pack of Alaska salmon has been caught and put up, stakeholders will get a better picture of how global prices may rise or fall.

Nearly 75% of the value of Alaska’s salmon exports is driven by sales between July and October. And right now, lower supplies of wild Pacific salmon by the major producers are pushing up prices as the bulk of those sales are made.

For sockeye salmon, global supplier and market tracker Tradex reports that frozen fillets are in high demand and supplies are hard to source for all sizes. With a catch this year topping 45 million, Alaska is the leading producer of that popular commodity.

“Luckily, sockeye harvests were once again abundant in Bristol Bay as fishermen caught nearly 200 million pounds. Although that’s a bigger than average harvest for Bristol Bay, it’s still down 9% from last year. With lower sockeye harvests in Russia and closures in Canada, we estimate the global sockeye harvest declined by 26% in 2020,” said Andy Wink, executive director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association speaking on the Tradex Three-Minute Market Report.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaska Symphony of Seafood – 2020-21 Changes and Call for Product

August 18, 2020 — The following was released by the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation:

AFDF is proud to announce the 2020-21 Alaska Symphony of Seafood, including the Call for Product (due Oct. 06, 2020), exciting changes to the event and new major sponsor, Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association (BBRSDA). Since 1994, AFDF has hosted and organized the “Symphony”, a competition for value‐added products made from Alaska seafood. The Symphony is an exciting platform that encourages companies to invest in product development, helps them promote those new products and competitively positions Alaska Seafood in national and global markets. Product development is critically important to the entire Alaska Seafood industry and the fishing communities that depend on it. Innovative new products position the industry to remain competitive and relevant to consumers, which is especially important in today’s COVID-19 market.

Previous winners and entrants have leveraged the Symphony platform and continue to see increased sales and market exposure of their products. Bullwhip Hot Sauce, by Barnacle Foods, was a triple winner last year (Retail category, Juneau People’s Choice and Grand Prize). Upon receiving the Grand Prize, Barnacle Foods commented, “When [Alaska] kelp is paired with piri piri pepper, tomatoes, and fresh garlic, the delicious flavor makes you want to put this sauce on everything! The Alaska Symphony of Seafood encourages all seafood processors to prioritize innovation in product development.”

Read the full release here

ALASKA: After “nerve racking” slow start, Bristol Bay catch numbers rebound with 2 million plus catch days

July 13, 2020 — The Fourth of July is typically the high point in the salmon season for Bristol Bay’s commercial fishing fleet, but in a year where COVID-induced uncertainty dominated the preseason, low harvest added to anxiety in the first weeks of the season.

“It was a very, very slow start. I think the slowest in my experience every fishing. It was definitely nerve-racking,” Katherine Carscallen, a drift gillnet fishermen in the Nushagak District said. “The Fourth of July is our typical peak, and that was where I looked at my log book where I keep track of how much we’ve caught and definitely started asking myself like, ‘how is this possible.'”

Through July 4, the cumulative bay wide harvest was just over 6 million fish – 49% below the average since 2012. Then the evening of Independence day the fish arrived in massive numbers.

“By the fifth of July it was just hard hitting for the fifth, sixth and seventh,” Carscallen said. “We definitely increased out poundage by a whole lot in just three days, and since then it’s just kinda been going steady.”

Read the full story at KTUU

Alaska’s salmon industry contends with a rumor from China that you can get COVID-19 from seafood

June 19, 2020 — China has stopped imports from European salmon suppliers due to fears of a connection between salmon imports and coronavirus, according to a report by Reuters. State-run newspapers in China reported the coronavirus was discovered on chopping boards used for imported salmon at a market in Beijing. The initial cluster of infections came from the same market, and some fear the discovery of virus there indicates a second wave of the coronavirus in China.

Several fisheries organizations are pushing back against those reports. The National Fisheries Institute compiled statements on Tuesday  from health professionals and agencies like the World Health Organization and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration saying there is no connection between seafood and COVID-19.

Fish marketing experts are assessing how the rumors could affect Alaska salmon’s image in the world. If people think eating salmon could put them at increased risk of contracting the virus — even if that information is incorrect — that could harm markets.

“Any time there’s information or misinformation, we have to wait and see how consumers respond to that,” said Andy Wink, executive director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association.

Read the full story at KTOO