Alaska’s Pacific halibut season is underway with lower quotas and a confluence of market factors driving down prices on the traditionally high-value species.
When the season opened on Saturday, 24 March, the fleet was already facing a 10 percent drop in the total allowable catch (TAC), down to 17.5 million pounds from 19.3 million pounds in 2017.
Halibut quotas are set by regions and the largest drops were leveled in Southeast Alaska and the Western Gulf/Kodiak region, with both areas seeing their allowable catch drop by over 15 percent.
Then came another blow. Early catch, which traditionally fetches a higher price than later in the season, was selling for just USD 4.50 to USD 5.25 (EUR 3.65 to 4.26) at the docks, around USD 2.00 (EUR 1.62) lower than last season’s opening price.
Garrett Evridge, an economist for the McDowell Group in Anchorage, Alaska, cited several factors for the drop in price, among them unsold halibut hanging around in freezers.
“From anecdotal sources, it looks like there is existing inventory on the halibut side that is depressing prices as we're moving into the season,” Evridge said.
Observers of the halibut market also point to a slow market erosion from Atlantic halibut, which is mostly caught in Eastern Canada and, although a different species than Pacific halibut, is roughly equivalent in taste and texture to Alaska’s halibut.
In an article for North Pacific Focus, fish economist Andy Wink said that in 2005, Atlantic halibut made up just four percent of the North American halibut harvest, but that total shot up to nearly a quarter of the total harvest last year.
And again this year, as Alaska’s Pacific halibut TAC slipped, the Atlantic halibut TAC in Eastern Canada clicked up 20 percent to around three million pounds.
Evridge added that the Canadian fishery has a couple advantages, including a year-round season and proximity to East Coast consumers.
“One aspect about that fishery that is different than ours is that their halibut season runs nearly all year long. It appears that they can supply that East Coast fresh market on a little bit more steady basis than we can, just because of our distance, as well this traditional large volume at the beginning of the season, when people try to take advantage of that price. It looks like these Canadian fishermen can just supply that market pretty well,” Evridge said.
The highest-value fish in Alaska, Evridge also said halibut may be facing price fatigue at the point at the point-of -sale, which could be prompting a market correction.
“If I want to eat Alaska halibut for dinner and I go to a high-end grocery store such as Whole Foods, I’m looking at USD 30 [EUR 24.35] plus per pound. That's pretty difficult for a consumer to swallow,” Evridge said. “I would suspect there's some price fatigue of that high price sort of limiting how much you can sell. The Alaska seafood industry likes to see a higher price for our products, but at the same time, if it gets too high, it can reduce demand.”
According to NOAA, fishermen received an average price of USD 6.32 (EUR 5.13) per pound in Alaska in 2017, which was down from USD 6.67 (EUR 5.41) in 2016.
