CHARLESTON, Ore. – Nice weather and a newly opened salmon season have left commercial salmon fishermen itching to get on the water.
But they’re looking at a glut of chinook being dumped on a market already saturated with fish.
Buyers say the problem is heightened by a lot of fish being caught in California and Alaska.
“They’re all going in the freezer,” said Scott Adams, production manager at Hallmark Fisheries in Charleston, Ore., said.
Stockpiling is a gamble for processors, who have to sell the fish later at a price that will cover the purchase price, processing and storage. That usually means fishermen get paid less.
The salmon season opened again Sept. 1, right before Labor Day weekend, when many buyers were closed.
Most fishermen kept their fish on ice until Tuesday. By that morning, boats were lined up in Charleston to unload, and buyers and processors were hustling to get the fresh chinook to the freezer or to buyers.
Most trollers got between $2.25 and $3 a pound, down from a high of $5 a pound when the season opened in March.
The good news is that trollers may be able to make up the difference on volume.
“There was a lot of fish, and then the price dropped,” Seahawk Seafood owner George Paynter said this week.
He said he bought enough fish from four boats to fill his fresh-market demands, and he plans on buying more to freeze for the winter.
“The fish are nice, good sizes,” Oregon Brand Seafood general manager Bernie Michalke said.
“There was a lot of 25 pounds and up that I got,” Paynter said. “I heard of a few 40-pounders. There aren’t a lot of medium and small sizes.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
