July 19, 2023 — Bristol Bay processors lowballed fishermen with ex-vessel prices of 50 cents on July 17, and the fleet wasn’t happy about it.
As the season unfolded in early July the fleet began fishing on an “open ticket,” meaning that prices hadn’t yet been announced by major processors. When major processors came out with the announcement of a base price of 50 cents some members in the fleet proposed a friendly protest near Naknek. The protest has been staged for July 20, but the looming question is whether thousands of fishermen could band together with enough solidarity and force processors to nudge up the prices.
“There are too many variables out here,” says Harry Moore, a lifelong drift fisherman who was raised on the beach at Naknek. “The fish came in later this year and didn’t really hit until last week (July 10). “It was slow developing; so there are a lot of guys trying to make it up fishing the run on the back end. Then you’ve got guys who’ve got quite a few fish already, and their attitude is just to grind it out and put in a few more pounds.”