If a fisherman gets 50 cents a pound for his reds, how can the fish fetch $10, $15 or more at retail counters?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all the other stuff that happens after he sells the fish. A lot of costs, margins and profits are included in that retail price,\u201d said Andy Wink, a fisheries economist with the McDowell Group in Juneau.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an \u201capples and oranges\u201d comparison when it comes to using weights paid for the raw goods and the end product. A lot of weight is lost going from a whole fish, which fishermen are paid on, to a fillet at retail counters.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost sockeye fillets amount to 40 to 50 percent of the round fish weight. If fishermen sold sockeye at $0.50 per pound, there\u2019s about $1.10 of raw material cost in a $10 per pound fillet sold at retail,\u201d Wink explained. \u201cThis might seem like a high mark up, but it\u2019s a decent reflection of all the costs and acceptable margins built into the product.\u201d<\/p>\n
The average wholesale price Alaska processors received for sockeye salmon (round) at the end of 2015 was $2.40 per pound, according to the Alaska Department of Revenue, and $5.73 per pound for fillets.<\/p>\n
Costs add up as the fish makes its way to retail counters, where most will tout a \u201cfull retail price,\u201d and then tweak it throughout the year using discounts and promotions.<\/p>\n
\u201cA retailer will run sockeye promotions of say, $9.99 a pound. That way they can say they have discounted the product $8 so it looks like a big saving for the consumer. Instead of promoting the fish for four weeks, maybe they will run it for 10 or 15 weeks out of the year. It just depends on how much success they have with it,\u201d Wink explained, adding that processors and distributors often have to pay (or reduce their prices) to get a retailer to promote product at a discounted price.<\/p>\n
The increased supply of sockeye from back-to-back bumper years at Bristol Bay also has had a big impact on what buyers are willing or able to pay. The big harvests mean more of the reds must be sold through discounts; that leads to a lower wholesale price, which affects the dock price.<\/p>\n
\u201cPromotions and discounts are a double-edged sword,\u201d Wink said. \u201cThey lead to lower prices, but are a necessary tool to move larger volumes of product through the supply chain. Without them, inventories would swell and product would go to waste.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
GRUNDENS FOR GALS<\/strong><\/p>\n Grundens, the go to brand for heavy duty rain gear, has launched a line for women.<\/p>\n \u201cWomen would send us emails saying, \u2018We love your gear, we wear it all the time, but it\u2019s built for guys,\u2019\u201d said Eric Tietje, global product director. \u201cEither the sleeves are too long or they are too big in the shoulders. It was really just uncomfortable and cumbersome for women to wear.\u201d<\/p>\n Tietje credits a push by the social media site Chix Who Fish for getting the new gear rolling.<\/p>\n \u201cAll these women really banded together and became a loud voice, telling retailers that they are a market that is not being served,\u201d he said. \u201cWe heard from lobster women in Maine, female marine researchers, and women in Alaska.\u201d<\/p>\n The result: Sedna Gear, designed for a fishing woman\u2019s dimensions. The new line of rain gear has brought a wave of good responses, beyond the better fit.<\/p>\n \u201cThe women have told us that by creating this product, it recognizes and validates what they do in the industry, and that means something,\u201d Tietje said, adding that it\u2019s made a big difference on deck.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just a piece of clothing,\u201d he said.\u201d We view these as pieces of equipment that people use to do their job.\u201d<\/p>\n Coming soon from Grundens: light weight gear and base layers for women, ceramic coatings on outer gear for added safety, and fabrics using Alaska crab shells that absorb sweat and eliminate odor. (That product is produced by Juneau-based Tidal Vision LLC.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n COMFISH FLASH <\/strong><\/p>\n Big names, hot topics and fish competitions are headlining the 36th annual ComFish Alaska trade show, hosted March 31 to April 2 by the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n In the lineup: Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan both are scheduled to hold open meetings; as are state commercial fisheries director Scott Kelly and Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, who also chairs the legislative fish committee.<\/p>\n Gunnar Knapp, director at the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage, will discuss salmon markets and how the state\u2019s fiscal crunch might affect fisheries.<\/p>\n Alex Stone of the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton will provide updates on Navy training exercises in the Gulf of Alaska.<\/p>\n Presentations also include: impacts of ocean acidification on crab fisheries; slow growing halibut; better trawling methods; new fishing vessel safety regulations; the \u2018graying of the fleet\u2019; challenges in access to Alaska fisheries; a cannery history and much more.<\/p>\n ComFish wraps up on April 2 with the annual fish filleting contest organized by Ocean Beauty Seafoods. It includes contestants from each of Kodiak\u2019s seven processing plants who are timed and judged on fillet and trimming speed, form and quality.<\/p>\n New to the ComFish lineup is an Alaska Sea Grant Fishermen\u2019s Showcase featuring contests in knot tying, net mending, hook throwing, coiling and more. The ComFish http:\/\/www.comfishalaska.com\/ dates are March 31-April 2 in downtown Kodiak. www.comfishalaska.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If a fisherman gets 50 cents a pound for his reds, how can the fish fetch $10, $15 or more at retail counters? \u201cIt\u2019s all the other stuff that happens after he sells the fish. A lot of costs, margins and profits are included in that retail price,\u201d said Andy Wink, a fisheries economist with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[74],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-5901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-arts-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5901"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=5901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}