Permits & State Fisheries

October 28, 2022

The biggest state fisheries news this week was ADFG's monster GHL for the 2023 Kodiak Tanner fishery: 5.8 million pounds for Kodiak, 400,000 pounds for Chignik, and 1.1 million pounds for the Southern Peninsula. That's a lot of Tanners! In fact, due to closures out west, Kodiak is now the largest crab fishery in the state. The fishery, which kicks off on January 15, is set to be the largest since 1986, and a huge increase from Kodiak's 2022 harvest of 1.8 million pounds. Needless to say, permit prices immediately shot up. A permit sold earlier this week for $69,000, up from the previous sale earlier this month at $66,500. Our lowest asking price is $80,000, and we have a cash offer of $77,000. 

We listed a Bristol Bay drift permit for $225,000, the lowest publicly posted asking price across all brokerages. And we have a new offer of $28,000 for a Cook Inlet drift permit, slightly lower than last week's sale at $30,000.

In slightly less dramatic news, ADFG also released the 2022 PWS salmon season summary, showing a total catch of 33.14 million fish, an overall value of $96.91 million, roughly 10% below the 10-year average. And, the numbers are out on Southeast's summer Dungie fishery, which brought in about $10 million less than last year, due to lower harvest and a lower price per pound.

The Board of Fisheries' Alaska Peninsula, Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, and Chignik Pacific Cod Meeting kicked off today and finishes up tomorrow.  The Board of Fisheries' Bristol Bay Finfish meeting will be held November 29-December 3 in Anchorage. Proposals affect both set and drift gillnet fishermen, covering everything from increasing minimum distances between gear, limiting tow line lengths, and repealing or amending D permit regulations. The deadline to comment is November 14th

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