Weekly bulletins for Alaska salmon catches by region and species are available for free starting in early June. The bulletins are compiled by McKinley Research Group for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.
At a glance, a teaser out this week shows 2021 dock price trends for fishermen (ex-vessel), prices for key products compared to previous years, 2022 harvest forecasts by area and more.
Here’s a sampler:
Alaska’s pink salmon harvest in 2022 is pegged at 67.2 million fish, 9% below the average of the last five even-numbered years. That would be 94.2 million fewer pinks than were caught in 2021.
Weaker pink runs are expected statewide, except at Kodiak.
Alaska’s pink salmon production mix focuses on canning (52% of value), frozen H&G (28%) and roe (19%).
The pink salmon price to Alaska fishermen in 2021 averaged $.37 down a penny from 2020.
Sockeye is by far Alaska’s most valuable salmon species. The 2022 sockeye salmon forecast is expected to break records at 74 million fish! That’s nearly 17 million more reds than were caught in 2021.
“While fresh sales have increased in recent years, a run of this size will challenge processors and product mix could shift toward higher volume frozen H&G processing as well as max out canning line capacities in the state,” the Bulletin said.
Prices for all sockeye products increased in 2021 and export data suggests “continued very strong demand.”
Alaska fishermen averaged $1.34/lb for sockeyes last year, up from $1.12.
The 2022 coho salmon harvest forecast of 3.6 million fish would be 12% lower than the previous 5-year average and just slightly higher than last year.
Coho represent only around 4% of salmon wholesale value in Alaska, but dock prices are comparable to those for sockeye.
Most coho are sold frozen either as H&G (headed/gutted) or fillet, but a significant share is sold into the fresh market.
Frozen coho fillet prices hit $9/pound in 2021 – higher than those for sockeye fillets, and well above prices seen over the last decade. Export data in early 2022 suggests prices will remain strong, the Bulletin said.
Coho prices to fishermen averaged $1.45 in 2021, up from $1.24.
The 2022 catch forecast of 15.4 million chum (keta) salmon would be a 2.2 million fish increase over 2021 but still well below the levels considered normal before the very poor season in 2020.
Keta is largely sold to the reprocessing market in China, while Japan is the main export market for keta roe.
Keta roe prices increased dramatically in 2021 to over $23/pound. H&G and fillet prices also increased in 2021, up 30% and 13% over 2020, respectively. Alaska fishermen received $.77/lb for chums on average last year, compared to $.47/lb in 2020.
The projected 2022 Chinook harvest of 310,000 fish would be the highest since 2016, but well below long-term averages.
Alaska’s Chinook are sold largely to the domestic market, with much of it going to restaurants and high-end retail. In 2021, wholesale prices were up for all products. Fishermen were paid an average of $5.82/lb for king salmon last year, up from $4.74/lb.
One thing to watch as Alaska’s salmon season gets underway: The U.S. dollar is very strong compared to other global currencies. That makes imports cheaper and exports more expensive and less competitive on world markets.
Have some antibiotics with that (farmed) salmon!
Chile is the largest supplier of farmed Atlantic salmon to the U.S., providing well over half of all fish to America’s supermarkets.
So far this year, U.S. imports of Chilean fresh and frozen whole salmon and fillets total 118 million pounds, valued at nearly $685 million. That cost will easily go into the billions by year’s end.
A new report shows that Chile’s salmon farmers increased their use of antibiotics last year to levels not seen since 2017, according to SeafoodSource, citing information from the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca).
Chile’s salmon farmers used 463.4 metric tons (MT) of antimicrobials on 985,958 MT of harvested fish in 2021, leading to an antibiotic consumption index (ACI, or amount of active ingredient used divided by the harvest of salmonids times 100) of 0.047 percent. Until last year, antibiotic use had been steadily falling since 2015, when ACI reached 0.063 percent.
Sernapesca blamed the increased usage on the Covid pandemic, saying it “generated logistical complications in companies that resulted in delays in harvesting and processing times, which led to the extension of production cycles, prolonging the exposure of greater biomass to pathogens,” Sernapesca Deputy Director of Aquaculture Marcela Lara said. “In addition, harmful algal bloom events occurred in the regions during 2021, which adds a stressor that affects the immune response of fish, producing an increase in the incidence of treatments against piscirickettsiosis.”
Chile’s salmon trade groups were quick to react to the unfavorable news. SeafoodSource reported that the Salmon Council, companies that comprise more than 50 percent of national production – said that while antibiotics use increased 34 percent in 2021 compared to the previous year, the trend is still decreasing when considered over a longer period of time. Levels in 2021 decreased 25 percent when compared to 2015, for example.
Unlike salmon farming in the Northern Hemisphere, where fish diseases are mostly viral and are not treated with antibiotics, in Chile, there are oceanographic and biological conditions that favor septicemia rickettsial salmonídea (SRS), the council noted.
The bacteria is controlled with different preventive measures, with the use of antibiotics being the last recourse. Antibiotics are not used for preventive purposes, but only in response to the presence of disease.
Further, before being harvested, antibiotics use is suspended for a certain period of time to guarantee that it is eliminated from salmon tissues. Sample specimens are examined in laboratories to ensure food safety, it said.
Meanwhile, Norway – the world’s No. 2 farmed salmon producer – claims its fish are “completely antibiotics free,” according to the Norwegian Seafood Council.
“No residues of antibiotics, medicines or illegal substances have ever been found in Norwegian salmon and 99% of Norwegian farmed salmon were produced without any antibiotic treatments,” according to annual studies by the Institute of Marine Research in Norway.
Laine Welch has covered the Alaska fish beat for print and radio since 1988. She also has worked “behind the counter” at retail and wholesale seafood companies in Kodiak and on Cape Cod. She retired in April 2022 from her Fish Factor reports, but now produces the alaskafish.com blog.
