Trident Seafoods notified Alaska fishermen that things aren’t looking good for the rest of the salmon season in Alaska in terms of prices.
In a letter sent to Alaska fishermen who sell to Trident, the management explained that the company wills stop buying most Alaska salmon at the end of August, with the exception of coho salmon in the Petersburg and Cordova South fishery.
Also, the price for chum salmon is dropping from 60 cents to 20 cents a pound because the “chum market has collapsed.”
“The current state of the salmon markets is volatile, and future indicators are even more concerning. We know this is not an easy time and we understand and empathize with our fishing community. Given how quickly things are changing we are committed to being as transparent as possible so you can make timely and informed decisions,” Trident’s executives wrote to the fleet.
This comes on the heels of Bristol Bay sockeye prices caving to 50 cents a pound, prompting protests by the commercial fleet in the bay.
The reality for Bristol Bay fishers is that there’s not enough room in freezers in a world that is overstocked with last year’s salmon. The increasing number of farmed salmon operations around the world and compounding the problem for Alaskans, who only provide wild fish to the market.
Trident also pointed out that Russia is selling pink salmon at extremely low prices and using the profits to fund the war on Ukraine.
“Last week, Russia harvested pink volume equivalent to our entire Alaska pink annual forecast, and they have shown a willingness to offload inventory at very low prices in part to fund the war in Ukraine. We haven’t seen a collapse in value like this since the 1990s, when pinks went well under ten cents a pound,” Trident wrote. The company forecasts it will be dropping the price for pink salmon.
That all adds up for a lean times for those with commercial permits in Alaska, one quarter of which are held by nonAlaskans.
Trident is also not going to buy fish in the Puget Sound or the fall salmon fishery.
Founded in 1973 by Alaska fisherman Chuck Bundrant, Trident became the largest seafood company in America.
