CR gillnetters no salmon at local stores ?

Rich232 · Oct 24, 2020

Columbia river gillnetters say there product is needed so non fisherman have access to fresh fish.I have not seen any Chinook or Coho salmon at Costco, Safeway, Albertsons etc and I have checked markets in Vancouver and Portland. I Have been checking for the last 2 months .Only stores that have it are four seasons and whole foods at $30 per pound and not affordable for the average wage earner.Abutcher at Costco said the gillys are getting more money to sell the salmon to Asian markets same ones that gave us Corona So they have been telling lies at the compact meetings.Ya there selling to the public just not here where they have caught it. HAS ANYONE ELSE NOTICED A LACK OF FRESH SALMON IN LOCAL STORES ?

Socaaron · Oct 26, 2020

I work in the industry. I can tell you for a fact the cost from the boat to the wholesalers and then on to retail is very high. That's why you only see it at those premium markets, they cater to people with money who are willing to spend it for premium fresh product.
The cost from a wholesaler to a retail chain for a Head-on gutted salmon is in the $8-12lb range average(sometimes lower) with a good run and much higher costs when the catch numbers are down. Now factor a 67% yield for filet from that whole fish and you start to see why the retail prices are so high. I'm not saying it's fair or reasonable for our local salmon to be priced out of the market for most everyone who lives here but that's the state of the world. One of the largest consumers of the local salmon is actually our local restuarants.
The fisherman don't export their fish, they sell to processors and those processors decide where they're going to sell that fish.
I seriously dislike gillnets and don't even get me started on the "tribal" netters in the upper Columbia but the reality is the fisheries aren't what they used to be. Netters target wild and hatchery indescriminately and we've seen considerable reduction in DFW funding so hatchery runs are going to get smaller.

Rich232 · Oct 26, 2020

Thank you for your response The fall sports season has been shorter year after year with this year being a exception. I get out as much as I can during that season .There are times when I do need to supplement if I'm having a bad season.This is the first year I havnt seen fresh fish at the regular chain supermarkets. A month ago Costco had a small amount of kings but meat was off color so no way. Unfortunately I separated my collar bone to my shoulder on September 7th so could not fish the extended season.I do hear what goes on at the compact meetings and the statement that the gillys use a lot is the nonfishing public deserves fresh fish to. Where the fuc_ is the fresh fish its all frozen or frozen thawed crap.