10 • May 2020
COVER STORY
Coast River Business Journal
Captain Doug Chambers
gillnets on Young’s Bay.
Industry Spotlight:
Coronavirus cripples seafood market
Closure of local seafood processors and restaurants affecting commercial fishermen
Story and Photos by Luke Whittaker
Coast River Business Journal
lwhittaker@crbizjournal.com
T
he outbreak of the covid-19 respiratory virus has
rippled through seafood markets beginning with the
Dungeness crab season in January and continuing
with the commercial salmon season.
Closure of local seafood processors and limitations
placed on restaurants has meant murky markets for
commercial fishermen and seafood retailers for everything from
salmon to razor clams.
“I usually could sell between 5,000 and 6,000 pounds a week, but
now I’m down to 1,000,” said Northwest Wild Products owner Ron
Neva regarding razor clams sales.
“They’re going to live markets because the restaurants aren’t using
them. Spring Chinook is 80% of the restaurant market. Normally my
buyer could take 800 pounds every three days, but now he can only
take 150 pounds.”
Virus stunts vital spring salmon market
The first catch of the season often commands the highest price.
Alaskan Copper River salmon, highly coveted for being among the
first fish and highest fat content, can fetch in excess of $60 per pound
on the retail market.
Commercial fisherman Jason Lake contends that local wild spring
Chinook are equivalent in quality.
“Technically, these are the first fish on the market and they’re just
as good as Copper River salmon because of their fat and omega-3
content,” Lake said.
“I usually could sell between
5,000 and 6,000 pounds of
razor clams a week, but now
I’m down to 1,000. Normally my
Spring Chinook buyer could take
800 pounds every three days,
but now he can only take 150
pounds.”