King Crab Season

Fish factor: Salmon, shrimp dominate seafood promos

Fishing occurs far away from where the catches end up, namely retail counters and restaurants, and it is fun to get a feel for how Alaska's seafood is faring.

The Alaska salmon brand is a top seller at the nation's biggest supermarkets and it has dominated all promotions this summer.

An analysis of U.S. seafood sales by Seafood.com showed that salmon was identified by species or by the word "Alaska" in 70 percent of all retail promotions in July.

Salmon represented 21 percent of all seafood promotions, second only to shrimp at 32 percent. In raw numbers, U.S. retailers ran 266 salmon promotions in July, compared to 405 shrimp promotions. Sockeye dominated the hype, garnering 42 percent of all salmon promotions during the month, and selling for an average retail price of $9.99/lb.

"No other seafood commodities had nearly the same level of promotional activity as salmon and shrimp," said Seafood.com editor John Sackton.

Alaska wild salmon has clearly differentiated itself in a world that is mostly awash in farmed fish.

"Farmed salmon is the box wine of fish and wild Alaska salmon is like the fine varietals," has long claimed restaurateur Roger Berkowitz of Legal Seafoods fame. Still, farmed Atlantic salmon is the single largest source for the mid consumer level in global markets - and absent from the picture for four years has been Chile, the world's second biggest producer after Norway. A deadly fish virus collapsed Chilean production four years ago, but the industry is on its way to recovery.

Industry reports peg Chile's production at 300,000 tons of farmed Atlantic salmon by 2013, nearly triple this year's output - and close to Alaska's average annual salmon haul of 377,000 tons.

"When the total world supply goes back up, will demand be strong enough to keep all salmon markets strong, as it has generally been over the past few years. That's the really the big question," said Gunnar Knapp, fisheries economist at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

The good news is that demand for salmon continues to grow across the globe.

"You can make a reasonable argument that growth in demand from places like China and Brazil and other developing countries (in) Eastern Europe has been sufficient, so that even if the Chileans come back on line and produce at former levels, world demand will be strong enough to keep markets up in general," Knapp said.

2011 Norton King Crab Fishery Sets Record Values | Seattle ...

This year marked record prices for Norton Sound Red King crab prices. Ex-vessel prices for the crab ranged from $5.04 to $ 5.35 per pound. 24 permit holders participated in the fishery landing over 401,000 pounds of crab. The 2011 season lasted just 33 days. In 1979, over three million pounds of Red King crab was landed; however, the price was then just a meager .75 cents per pound. Because of the exclusive nature of the fishery and the short season, the Norton Red King crab fishery remains largely a local small boat fishery.

National fisherman

Annual report - International North Pacific Fisheries Commission

Crazy for crab, everything you need to know to enjoy fabulous crab at home

American maritime cases

North by Northwestern, A Seafaring Family on Deadly Alaskan Waters