Tribes hit by dip in fish demand

Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Tribal fishermen around Puget Sound, like their nontribal counterparts, are struggling with the faltering market for wild salmon, which is being undercut by the growing influx of farm-raised Atlantic salmon.

While government attention is focused on trying to help dwindling wild populations recover, the market is slipping away.

"There’s a lot of despair and frustration and anger out there. Things are not going well," said Jim Anderson, executive director of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, at the commission’s recent annual meeting. "Tribal fishermen are getting one-half the price they got 25 years ago, and spending twice as much to get it."

Farmed salmon comprise 50 percent to 60 percent of the market these days, compared with just 1 percent 10 years ago, said Pat Booth of Productive Trade Resources., a Vashon-based company that helps small- and medium-size enterprises find markets for food products.

The key for tribal fishermen is to seek out specialty markets in the United States and overseas, Booth said.

The U.S. target group is baby boomers in urban areas with an average income of $50,000 to $75,000 and where residents like dining out and trying new food, Booth said. Tribes should also pursue consumers in Canada, Japan and Europe.

Wild salmon are a specialty seafood — healthy, trendy and capable of commanding of a high price, he said. "The fish buyers are saying that farm-raised salmon is not unique: It all tastes the same."

And Puget Sound tribes need to promote themselves as well as their catch, Booth said.

"In Germany, they love the idea of Native American products," he noted.

Direct sales, from the fishing boat to the consumer, should not be overlooked.

"You need to sell your product live or almost live — sparkling fresh," suggested Brad Warren, editor of Pacific Fishing magazine.

Quinault tribal leader Guy McMinds called on area tribes to work together — perhaps forming a corporation to process, market and distribute tribal-caught fish from a central Puget Sound location. The marketing and processing effort could handle everything from fresh fish filets to smoked salmon to salmon eggs.

The federal government could help market tribe-caught salmon, said Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually Indian and chairman of the fisheries commission.

A Canadian researcher has found elevated levels of PCBs in British Columbia farmed salmon and, in a new scientific paper, says eating as little as one meal a week of the fish could be dangerous.

The finding is based on one of the first studies to look at contaminant levels in farmed fish, which are raised in pens along the coast and fed fishmeal pellets made of processed remains of other aquatic creatures.

Study leader Michael Easton — a Vancouver, British Columbia, geneticist — said the farmed salmon he tested had far higher levels of most contaminants than wild fish, including nearly 10 times the toxic load of some types of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls.

However, he described his tests as preliminary, noting they included just eight fish and five feed samples.

Associated Press