Alright, I have surfed the the ever expansive ADF&G websites to find these treasures of analytical knowledge. I really have no idea what exponential smoothing is and I doubt that I ever really will. From a fisherman’s perspective, its easy to realize the severity of this year’s salmon run. After a horrible turn out in Prince William Sound and a ever increasingly poor pink salmon run in Southeast Alaska, it is clearly a pivotal summer this year. The constant news pooring in from the lower west coast states is a constant reminder of what can go wrong with salmon fishing.
It’s my 13th season of salmon fishing this year. I have worked in Bristol Bay a few of those, but most of my time has been spent here in Southeast Alaska. I have seen a number of changes in the fishing over the years and I remember the huge harvests in 1999 and the truly dismal prices that we received. The least that I was paid was in 2003 while working for Ocean Beauty. I believe that the total was .06 cents/lbs, with a huge bonus of .03 cents for refrigeration. Man, those were the days. The price this year is always shrouded in mystery. The ast pink salmon price adjustment from Trident Seafoods, brought us to a total of .38 cents/lbs for pinks. Have a look at these lovely charts.
The season of salmon is underway, as fisherman wait and hope. I’ll be blogging about the season from the boat. So, check in here for updates from the back deck…