BETHEL — Washington state fish brokers are traveling to the Southwestern Alaska village of Quinhagak Monday in the hope of quickly setting up a commercial operation for the region's wild salmon this year.
An Alaska Dispatch News story earlier this month reported that for the first time since Alaska became a state, no commercial fishing was planned for the Kuskokwim area in 2016 because of the lack of buyers.
Jason Lake, one of three partners in the Northwest Seafood Exchange — a fish buyer and broker — said he had markets for the fish and wanted to help the local fishermen. He is working with local fishermen and the Quinhagak village corporation, Qanirtuuq Inc., to inventory what equipment is in the village and see whether a commercial operation for fresh fish can be set up quickly this season.
"We've been diligently working basically around the clock to get this put together. We understand their desperation and we've got markets to fill," said Lake, of the metropolitan Seattle community of Woodinville.
Fishermen would bleed and ice the fish, Lake said, and a crew in Quinhagak would gut the catch. The fish would be shipped fresh on ice in insulated totes to markets around the country, he said.
"I'm planning on getting my boat ready," said Timothy "Johnny-boy" Matthew, a Quinhagak fisherman who had been sidelined.
Aaron Poetter, state Fish and Game commercial fisheries manager for the Kuskokwim area, said if a company gets state approval to operate as a fish buyer, he will schedule commercial fishing openings.
Coastal Villages Region Fund had been the sole buyer in recent years. It is a community development organization established under federal law to use high-seas fisheries profits to benefit Southwestern Alaska. Locals worked at its salmon processing plant in Platinum, a small coastal village south of Bethel, and on docks and fish tenders. Local fishermen had a ready market for king, chum, sockeye and silver salmon.
But Coastal Villages abruptly shut down its Kuskokwim-area operation this year, saying it was costing millions.
Northwest Seafood Exchange hasn't announced a price for fish but said it would be higher than the 50 cents a pound that Coastal Villages was paying, and would vary by salmon species, among other factors.
"We're basically Scotch-taping this together to get through this season so we can get the local fish in there and get some income coming in, get our markets filled," Lake said. "We are helping each other out."
The buyer usually buys from Columbia River, Puget Sound and other fisheries in Washington and Oregon, he said.