Fishing in flux 

John Driscoll

The Times-Standard

April 22, 2007

Perhaps more than ever, commercial fishing is a tenuous business.

Boat owners and deck hands can make quick money for a few months hard work, but fluctuations in fish and crab stocks are layered under complicated regulations that raise the risk for all involved. Globalized marketplaces and increasingly consolidated portions of the industry offer both opportunities and threats.

There are particularly bright spots in the Dungeness crab and albacore tuna fisheries, and certain markets for salmon are proving lucrative, too. Dungeness crab is the most important fishery in North Coast ports, and the structure of the fishery effectively ensures that crab will always be available.

Even that fishery has troubles. Ever bigger boats with ever more crab pots scarf up huge amounts of crab quicker than smaller vessels. Fishermen are also concerned about how a process to develop a system of marine protected areas might infringe on crabbing grounds.

Fisherman Wayne Sohrakoff said something will have to change for the fishery to stay lucrative, especially regarding the number of pots a boat is allowed to fish and the price fishermen get paid for crab. Fishermen must also plan for the natural ups and downs of crab populations.

This past year -- following three boom years -- the fishery ebbed, and based on charts of the catch over decades, it will likely stay on a down cycle for a couple more years.

”You can't expect to have a good year every year,” Sohrakoff said.

Salmon, once a major part of the North Coast fishery, are now heavily regulated in the area to protect weak Klamath River stocks. Fishermen who once motored out of Eureka to fish for salmon now have to travel south, to San Francisco or Fort Bragg , which have more liberal seasons. Or they have permits to fish in Oregon waters.

With the price staying strong in most years -- especially for high quality and niche-marketed fish -- there is money to be made.

In many ways, salmon fishing is less of a gamble than albacore tuna fishing. Those wide-ranging fish draw boats hundreds of miles to sea, sometimes for weeks at a time. That burns lots of fuel. If a boat is lucky to land a large number of fish, they face prices of only about 70 cents per pound recently. California 's landing fees and other regulations make it less attractive to bring tuna into the state's ports.

When the fish are brought in, they have to be transported out of the country to Europe , Asia or South America for canning, since there are few domestic processors. However, some niche operations have sprung up to take advantage of the albacore's gourmet qualities. Lazio's and Carvalho's Wild Planet canned tunas are highly regarded.

The other good thing is that tuna stocks appear to be in good shape. Wayne Heikkila with the Western Fishboat Owners Association said that small boats with good fuel economy that tap niche markets may have the best chance of finding a way into the future.

”That's the whole key here,” Heikkila said. “If the U.S. consumer starts buying more of our fish, it's going to be OK.”

Humboldt Bay has also become a kind of oyster Mecca -- not because it grows more oysters than other places on the West Coast, but because it grows them differently. During a decade of discussions with regulators and biologist, the main oyster grower Coast Seafoods significantly altered their operations.

It used to grow oysters on shells dumped onto the bay bottom. Bat rays and rock crabs were routinely killed to preserve the beds, and the oysters were harvested with a dredge. That rough operation has been transformed. Oysters are now grown on lines suspended off the bay floor, or in bags on racks.

The good water quality of the bay supports the industry, which also includes a number of smaller shellfish businesses of various types.

No matter what part of the business one is in or might enter, fishing is hard work out in the elements. Some fisheries take people far from home for long periods of time. Longtime fisherman Mike Cunningham said this often makes it difficult to find good people to work on board.

He himself said he now values his time at home more, and hasn't gone salmon fishing for several years, opting to spend the summer months catching albacore and selling them off his boat at the Woodley Island Marina.

”It's difficult to get people to work on the back of a boat,” Cunningham said, “even though there's money to be made.”

Fishing often seems synonymous with change. New fisheries tend to crop up to take the place of those that aren't practical or become highly regulated, and new markets for fish that have long been caught are developed as well.

Most people who are successful in the industry have learned to deal with those changes, and today's fishing fleet may be pared down and more efficient than ever before.

Next Sunday: Education and research.

ON THE WEB

www.times-standard.com

www.northcoastprosperity.com

YOU'RE INVITED

What: Public event highlighting the State of the Industry 2007 reports on specialty agriculture, dairy and fisheries.

When: Thursday, April 25, 5-7 p.m.

Where: River Lodge Conference Center , 800 Riverwalk Drive , Fortuna

John Driscoll can be reached at 441-0504 or jdriscoll@times-standard.com.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material  herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed  a  prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and  educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

Source:  http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_5727262