Typically, more than one-third of Alaska’s total salmon harvest and value include fish that start out as eggs from wild stocks reared in hatcheries - mostly pinks and chums - and are released as fingerlings to the sea.
2016’s shortfall included a dismal hatchery catch of just 24 million salmon, 22 percent of the statewide salmon harvest, the lowest in 24 years. That pushed down the dockside value of the hatchery haul to $85 million, the lowest since 2005.
It was poor returns of pink salmon that caused the hatchery crash, which accounted for just 15 percent of the total Alaska hatchery take.
Alaska’s hatcheries are operated by private nonprofit corporations, and funded primarily from the harvest of a portion of the salmon returns. The state also operates two sport fish hatcheries in Anchorage and Fairbanks. About 120 schools also participate in educational programs that grow salmon eggs in incubators until they are released to the wild.
Operators forecast a return of about 67 million fish to Alaska’s hatcheries this summer.
Tax tasks
Skippers could become tax collectors if a new law is given a go by Alaska lawmakers. The bill – HB 115 – would require that skippers collect an, as yet undefined, amount of each crew’s wages and remit it to the state Department of Revenue. Currently, the IRS considers fishermen as conducting ‘fishing activities’ and boat captains are only required to send in a 1099 tax form for their crew members.
“We don’t want to be tax collectors,” said Jerry McCune, president of United Fishermen of Alaska and a veteran skipper who operates out of Cordova. “We have no idea what their taxes are. Even if I collect the money, I could be under collecting or over collecting and the Revenue department is going to make more work for themselves. It is cleaner the way it is - treating us as contractors, and we are the only ones singled out as that.”
McCune added that it is hard to assess the impact of the tax proposal until the legislature finalizes the state budget.
Another bill aims to boost the state fuel tax by a nickel to 10 cents, then to 15 cents by 2019. Representative Louise Stutes of Kodiak (R-Kodiak) has added language to the measure that would give a three cent rebate, but McCune said there is strong resistance to the tax increase.
“We can’t absorb all these taxes as a fishing industry and still stay solvent, so we are keeping a close eye on all the proposals,” McCune said.
UFA is the nation’s largest fishing industry trade association, representing 34 member groups from small salmon boats to big crab boats and at-sea processors.
Ballots have gone out to select four new UFA members, said administrative director, Mark Vinsel.
“We had an unprecedented 17 qualified applicants,” Vinsel said, adding that voting ends on March 31 and the board members will be seated on April 15.
Fish bits
The annual ComFish Alaska trade show set for March 30-April 1 in Kodiak will feature a historical overview of the 66 years of harvesting Bristol Bay salmon from sailboats, seafood market updates, the Navy’s controversial Northern Edge exercises in the Gulf of Alaska scheduled from May 1-12, a contest for the most able fisherman, recognition of the longest serving processing workers by Kodiak’s many seafood companies and much more. See the ComFish line up on Facebook.
Trident Seafoods received a gold award from the Northwest Clean Air Agency’s Partners for Clean Air program for 2017. The award goes to businesses that comply with all applicable air quality regulations for at least three years, and employ additional clean air practices in at least two categories, such as energy efficiency and emissions reductions,
DJ Summers, one of Alaska’s best fish writers, has left the Alaska Journal of Commerce to write a text book on the economics, politics and business of cannabis.
“I’ll remember covering Alaska’s fishing industry the same way Marines remember boot camp and their first foreign deployment. It really sharpened my teeth covering something as complex, as politically charged, as segmented, and as culturally and economically significant as fisheries,” Summers said. He can be reached in Utah at djsummers100@gmail.com
