We’ve all heard this year’s commercial fishing season was a success, and now the numbers are in to prove it. Over $4 million was paid out from Norton Sound Seafood Products (NSSP) for local crab, salmon and halibut fisheries.
Middy Johnson is the Norton Sound Seafood Products operations manager in Unalakleet. He said the monetary impact is actually closer $6 million, taking account of the wages paid to 274 seasonal employees of NSSP. Johnson said many factors contributed to the season’s success.
“Well, of course, you’ve got to have the resource and it has to come back. The rest of it is just being aggressive harvesting. A lot of things come into play working with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in having a schedule,” said Johnson. “Just having a good workforce at the processing plant to be able to move the product. And, of course, having a good partner like we do with Copper River Seafoods that absorbs all our products at a good price.”
Johnson said NSSP pays fishermen $1.60 per pound for coho, 60 cents for chum and 30 cents for pinks. All the Norton Sound salmon is then sold to Copper River Seafoods, who NSSP has partnered with for about five years.
But before the Norton Sound harvest even makes its way to Copper River, Johnson said one of the most important factors in a successful season is simply making sure that no one passes up an opportunity to fish. He said more fishermen are taking advantage of those opportunities now that there are land-based buying stations in Shaktoolik, Elim and Golovin. That’s an upgrade from how they’ve traditionally operated, with tenders going out to communities and hauling the catch back.
“So, what happens is you have ‘x’ amount of travel time that needs to be factored in there, so you can’t really schedule openers and have something available all the time,” said Johnson. “By having the land-based buying stations, you’re allowed to have a set schedule. You can be more aggressive and if the weather is marginal, you always have a place to deliver your product to, even if the tender couldn’t make it back because of the weather.”
Johnson said he’s hoping to get more people employed at the Nome and Unalakleet branches of NSSP for the next summer season. He noted successful hires from Brevig Mission, Shishmareff, St.Micheal and Stebbins, and would like to get more employees from surrounding communities to work as fish processors, dock crews and deckhands on tender vessels in the future.
