It is true that in bad economy people around the world are producing competing products and selling into the same markets. And they are working very aggressively to try and increase their share of those markets. This has affected seafood industry of Alaska, says Gunnar Knapp, a fisheries economist at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
He told that the ups and downs in foreign currency values are another price-driver for seafood and other natural resources. Knapp also said that any time you have a product that is exported, the value of currencies compared to the U.S. dollar will play a role in what people in the foreign country will pay to get that product. It is said that Japan and the European Union are two of Alaska’s most important seafood markets, and those currencies have flip-flopped a bit since last year.
The changes are enough to make a difference, but it’s not a dramatic difference from a year ago. Knapp said what fish processors can pay fishermen is limited by two basic things: how much they are able to sell their products for, and what their costs are. Sales of canned and frozen seafoods are often made months after a fishery ends, adding to the price uncertainty.
A case in point — working in favor of Alaska’s salmon markets is a 60 percent drop in the availability of farmed fish from Chile, the No. 1 exporter to the United States. Chilean government task force also cited the farmed salmon industry for “hair-raising” use of antibiotics to control the disease outbreaks.
NOAA fisheries scientists have recommended a snow crab catch of 50.5 million pounds, a drop of 14 percent, said that Alaska crabbers will drop pots for a lower snow crab catch this winter, but the limit might not be as drastic as feared.
