Every processor so far has posted $1.35 as a base price, and there is more information on bonuses.
Update:
Fishermen for Peter Pan have reported that the processor is paying set netters $0.25 for chum, $0.15 for ice and an additional $0.05 for "premium chill" – that is, 750-pound bags or less and floating. It is not offering bonuses for bleeding.
Original article Aug. 6, 2019:
The following processors have posted a 2019 base price of $1.35 per pound for sockeye: Silver Bay, Icicle, Leader Creek, Alaska General Seafoods, Red Salmon (a subsidiary of North Pacific Seafoods), Peter Pan, and Ocean Beauty.
Icicle will pay $0.40 per pound for chum. Icicle drift net fishermen receive a $0.08 bonus for bled reds in RSW only, $0.15 for sockeye chilled in ice or RSW, and $0.05 cent premium for floated fish. For set netters, there is also a $0.15 cent bonus for chilling.
Silver Bay drift net fishermen have reported a $0.25 cent bonus for RSW and floating, and a $0.12 cent bonus for bleeding and mats or a salmon slide.
According to Leader Creek fishermen, the bonuses for bled fish, RSW, floating, and mats or a slide add up to $0.27 cents.
AGS is paying fishermen $0.20 extra cents per pound for chilling.
E&E was unavailable for comment. KDLG has not been able to independently verify its base price, or that of Copper River and Trident, both of which declined to comment. None of those companies have publicly released prices at this time.
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, last year’s baywide average base price for sockeye was $1.26. The average price after bonuses rose to $1.56.
Wholesale prices for sockeye in 2018 were $4.13 per pound for fresh headed and gutted sockeye, and $3.47 for the same product frozen. For processors, that works out to a gross profit of $2.57 per pound for fresh or $2.31 for frozen sockeye.
In total, the exvessel value of Bristol Bay in 2018 was $344 million dollars for just over 259 million pounds of fish, or almost 50.6 million fish.
If you are a fisherman who fishes for a company that KDLG doesn't have prices or bonuses for yet, please get in touch with us so we can report an even fuller picture of this year’s pricing in Bristol Bay. Email isabelle@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
You can contact the author at sage@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.