Alaska suspends informal salmon price-tracking.(SEAFOOD)

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) board of directors agreed recently to suspend the in-season salmon price-tracking component of its Seafood Market Information Service during the 2007 season. In so doing, the board adopted the recommendation of one of its seafood industry advisory committees, the Salmon Committee, comprising fishermen and processors.

The price-tracking service represents about 5 percent of the Seafood Market Information Service, provided for ASMI by the economic consulting firm McDowell Group of Alaska. "This same board voted to retain the price-tracking component of the program two years ago. It wasn't until reports surfaced of the data being misused that there was any serious discussion about ending the price-tracking service," said Chris McDowell, manager of the program. "In the several years we've done the salmon price-tracking, it's never been anything more than a round of informal phone calls."

Ron Jolin, a Kodiak fisherman who sits on the salmon committee, said, "I think it's something we'll revisit in a year. But the way it was explained to me, it was used by outside interests to push prices down, and if that's the case, I don't really see much use for it any more."

In supporting the change during committee deliberations, Jolin noted that in today's information age, the information on salmon prices is a lot easier to come by than it was even several years ago. In contrast, Thea Thomas, a Cordova fisherman on the salmon committee, expressed some reservations about the change; she is not entirely convinced that the time has come to discontinue the service, and is pleased the board will revisit the issue in a year.

In making its recommendation to the board, the committee noted that if it was being used to drive down prices paid to salmon suppliers, the continuation of salmon price-tracking service was not consistent with the ASMI mission to raise the value of the harvest.

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