Bristol Bay fishermen's price petition

Minimum of 930 signatures from permit holders are needed to forward petition to the State

From BBRSDA:

The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association (BBRSDA) recognizes that many commercial fishermen are upset about the 2023 ex-vessel price for sockeye salmon. The lack of transparency regarding fish price is a big problem in Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery. This prevents fishermen from making informed business decisions. Addressing this problem would represent a significant improvement to the Bristol Bay commercial salmon fishery, which is one of BBRSDA’s statutory purposes.

While this petition ought to provide some independent investigation and transparency about the 2023 base price, the mediation process afforded by Alaska Statute 16.10.280 does not guarantee price will actually change. It is mediation, not binding arbitration. BBRSDA believes the best path towards achieving mutual agreement on price would be for fishermen and processors to negotiate directly prior to the season. For that to work, and to avoid a strike, both fishermen and processors must be willing to engage in negotiation to create some sort of price agreement.

Please read the petition posted below. If you are in support of this action, fill out and submit the form. BBRSDA will gather signed petitions, check against the CFEC permit database, forward them to the State when/if we receive +930 signed petitions, and will let fishermen know via our website when we’ve reached the petition goal. If you support this effort, please help spread the word to other Bristol Bay permit holders.

Note: Funds for this project are derived from the RSDA assessment and NOT any form of state financial assistance. This project is being undertaken for the statutory purposes of improving the commercial fishing industry within Bristol Bay, as well as research purposes, under AS 44.33.065