Mayor of Sand Point Glen Gardner said that the business in Sand Point is not as usual and the harbour is dead quiet and nobody’s around, it is a sullen effect. The fishermen went on strike a week ago and it is still going on as the prices of salmon raises by dozens of seiners and some gillnet fishermen from Sand Point and nearby King Cove. Trident Seafoods and Peter Pan Seafoods, the two major processors in the Aleutians East Borough harbor towns, are offering fishermen 70 cents a pound for red salmon. The fishermen say that’s not enough.
Dick Jacobsen, who has been fishing in Sand Point for about 50 years, said that with the price of all of the goods that we use, groceries, fuels, nets and everything, doubling and tripling, we can’t understand why the price of fish is not improving. He added that whatever price the companies work together on, the fishermen are kind of stuck with that.
John van Amerongen, spokesman for Trident Seafoods, in an e-mail, informed that the company understands very well that the high cost of fuel is making things difficult for fishermen this season, as it is for processors. He also said that it is difficult to change that so all should work together to do the best we can.
Gardner said what happens in the negotiations is crucial because residents are dependent on the town’s raw fish tax.
