May 1, 2006
SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Salmon lovers may face higher prices at the grocery store or their favorite restaurant this summer, after the federal government's decision to cut back on commercial salmon fishing along 700 miles of Oregon and California coastline.
Industry experts say the fishing closures on the West Coast, which will take millions of pounds of fish off the market, are only one element contributing to the price run-up. Rising fuel costs for fishing fleets and worldwide demand for wild salmon have played a large role in making salmon more expensive.
"The demand for wild fish has come back to where it was 20 years ago, before farmed fish was around," Ed Drennan, a national account manager with fish wholesaler Pacific Seafood in Clackamas, told The Statesman Journal newspaper of Salem.
Some consumers prefer wild fish because of its taste, while others say salmon farming harms the environment.
This year's salmon prices are not unprecedented - Copper River King Salmon from Alaska has been known to sell for nearly $30 per pound. The question this year: When will prices stabilize?
Steve Morton, the chef and owner of Morton's Bistro Northwest in West Salem, said he isn't optimistic about prices coming down. He expects many restaurants will look for alternatives to wild salmon.
Chefs are going to need to "get creative in their purchasing," he said, whether that means looking to the Gulf Coast for seafood or switching to other types of wild fish.
Oregon's salmon-fishing industry worries not only about this year, but the longer-term consequences for marketing its product. The small numbers of Oregon-caught salmon for sale could be a setback.
"We're not dead; we're just rolling over this year," said Darus Peake, who is the chairman of the Oregon Salmon Commission and operates a commercial-fishing and seafood-processing business. Although most of the Oregon salmon-fishing fleet will stay in port, he said, the industry will be back in force next year.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture, which also oversees the fishing industry, is considering an advertising campaign aimed at assuring retailers, wholesalers and consumers that salmon fishing is a sustainable industry.
"In the last couple of years, Oregon's salmon industry has made tremendous progress in establishing a niche within the wild-salmon market," said Dalton Hobbs, the assistant director for the state agriculture department. "We don't want to go backwards."
Farmed salmon from Chile began to gain significant market share in the early 1990s, when Oregon Coho salmon were removed from commercial harvest, Hobbs noted.
All commercial salmon fishing from Northern California to Florence on the Oregon Coast will be closed this year. From Florence north to the Columbia River, there will be staggered openings with limits of 75 fish per week.