Late last week, Peter Pan Seafood raised its base price for sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay from $1.10 to $1.25 “after gauging the strength of the run and the market,” said the company in a press release.
“We felt it was only responsible to push the base price up to $1.25, once again demonstrating our commitment and our partnership with the harvesters,” said Jon Hickman, Peter Pan’s vice president of Operations.
Peter Pan is also now offering a late season incentive of $0.10 for harvesters to stay in the water and keep fishing. This is only for fish harvested after July 18.
Peter Pan was the first out of the gate this season to announce its initial base price of $1.10 early in the season “to put fishermen at ease that they would receive a fair price and to help them plan their finances for the year,” the company reported.
As of Wednesday, July 21, Alaska’s Kenai River closed to all king salmon fishing, which means a shutdown for commercial setnet fishing for all species on Cook Inlet’s east side.
To prevent fishermen from relocating to open areas in search of kings, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game also closed king salmon fishing in the Kasilof River and the Cook Inlet saltwater from Bluff Point north, reports KDLL.