Here’s to 2007
2007 saw our pink prices ramp up.
As of press time the highest major dock price is .23 and the highest major grounds price is .20. The highest prices paid for pink salmon were .27 for some hatchery pinks and .25 by a smaller buyer this past summer.
We got our run back,
although the harvest from this cycle was a bit of a disappointment compared with every odd cycle in a decade. While there may be a myriad of reasons for this, including, but not limited to, ocean survival and the major freeze ups (with little or no snow cover) on the mainland systems in the winter of 2006, we managed to get relatively decent escapement.
2007 saw seiners asking for reduced fishing time
for the first time in a long time. The 4 on 1 off schedule will now be a bit more rare as the range for initiating this management regime has gone from a 30 million run to 38 million. SEAS also spent considerable time and energy with polling and meetings in order to sufficiently address the concerns of our members on this important issue. The Task Force in Sitka last month reiterated our prior observations that not all districts needed to be uniform in initiating the 4-1 regime.
We got our fleet consolidation program in late 2007.
In mid-December, Congress passed the final appropriation of $235,000 to fund the loan with National Marine Fisheries Service. The President signed the omnibus package yesterday. So we’re off and running. The SEAS board signed off on using the $2.88 million grant we currently have on the books to do a “reverse auction”. The Southeast Revitalization Association will now meet and determine whether and how swiftly to proceed on this part of the buyback.
In the past we were reluctant to do this in two stages but now the mindset is that the sooner we get out of the gate the better. Again, as always, many thanks to Senator Ted Stevens for his persistence in helping us get this accomplished. And a special thanks to Trevor McCabe, our federal lobbyist since 2004 (with his firm through 2005 and alone since then) . The biggest oar in the water on this from the fishermen’s side has come from our great friend at PSVOA, Robert Zuanich.
Happy New Year to all of our members and thank you for your continued membership in 2007, which is up over 30% by the way.
bobbyt
