Northwest Fishing Economy Reeling From ’97 Salmon Disaster

From a cluster of trailers and sheds tucked beneath the busy Fremont Bridge, Kvichak Marine Industries designs and builds sturdy work boats.

Inside the fabrication shop, sparks rain to the floor as welders turn sheets of dime-bright aluminum into the hulls and decks of barges, skimmers and patrol boats.

Commercial fishing boats for Alaska’s Bristol Bay salmon fishery had long been Kvichak’s mainstay. The company even takes its name from the Kvichak River--pronounced KWEE’-jack--in southwest Alaska, home of one of the world’s richest sockeye runs.

But for the first time since Kvichak Marine began building boats 11 years ago, none of the vessels under construction in the shop is headed for the salmon grounds.

Last summer’s disastrous salmon season in Bristol Bay left many fishermen and their crew members with barely enough money to cover their costs and get home. New boats were pretty much out of the question.

“Everybody is really watching their nickels,” said Keith Whittemore, who owns Kvichak Marine and is also a commercial salmon fisherman in Bristol Bay.

For boat builders, suppliers, seafood processors and fishermen, it has been a winter of making do with less, scrambling to find other sources of cash, and waiting nervously for this summer’s salmon run.

Biologists still don’t know why half of the about 25 million salmon failed to show up last year, but the effects were immediate and dramatic in Bristol Bay. The return of the salmon normally creates a six-week burst of economic activity in midsummer that supports the region throughout the year. Jobs not related to fishing are scarce.

The state’s most valuable salmon fishery, worth about $150 million in 1996, was worth about half that last year. Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles declared an economic disaster in the region.

And the disaster has sent ripples throughout the Northwest fishing economy.

Almost half of the nearly 1,900 commercial gill-net fishermen in Bristol Bay live outside Alaska--mainly in Washington, Oregon and California. Many of the thousands of workers who travel to Alaska to work in the processing plants and aboard the boats are from the Northwest. And most of the fish processors, supply companies and boat builders that serve the fishery are based in the Seattle area.

They are feeling the effects of last summer’s losses.

“There’s maintenance being done, but there’s no gingerbread or goodies being put on boats. It’s completely minimalist at the moment,” Whittemore said.

Across town, John Sharp looked out the window from his office at Seattle Marine Supply and surveyed the fishing boats, seafood companies and boat builders that ring Lake Union.

“This year is going to be one of tension. Everything will be 11th-hour. That creates a lot of anxiety,” said Sharp, who sells everything from fish-packing boxes and knives to rain gear and survival suits to fishermen and processors.

Because so much gear purchased last year went unused, orders are coming in slowly and buyers are watching what they spend more closely. He expects a surge in late orders if this summer’s salmon returns are high.

“This is our 50th year in business and nobody’s ever seen a year like this from Bristol Bay,” said Sharp, who also is a commercial fisherman in Bristol Bay.

“I ran across a friend who was cleaning yards and gutters, trying to make money to get by. People are doing whatever,” he said.

Last summer’s poor harvest has forced Sharp to take a hard look at the upcoming fishing season and cut back where he can. He’s reducing the crew aboard his 32-foot gill-netter from three to one and is advising his teenage son, Jacob, to find another way to earn money for college.

For fisherman John Webb of Astoria, Ore., fishing in Bristol Bay for the last 20 years has been like going to the bank every summer. Starting out as a crewman, he saved enough money over the years to buy two boats and commercial fishing permits and has diversified into the herring and halibut fisheries.

But poor herring prices last year, combined with the weak Bristol Bay harvest, doubled the blow.

“We’re living on my girlfriend’s job right now. It was basically a loss,” Webb said. He has spent the winter repairing fishing gear that, in a good year, he might have replaced.

“For me, another job is not an option. Who’s going to hire a guy that’s gone half the year? I guess I could go to McDonald’s, but I’ve gotten spoiled, so I’m trying to cut my overhead by rebuilding my halibut gear. Whatever we’ve got, we’ve got to make it do,” he said.

The seafood processors who buy the salmon often act as bankers for the fleet, advancing money to fishermen so they can fly to Alaska and buy supplies before heading out to the fishing grounds.

But that money will be tight as the season approaches, said Norm Van Vactor, who manages Peter Pan Seafoods’ Dillingham plant.

“In the past, we might have been more liberal. We might have helped with non-fishing-related items, if a fisherman maybe needed a thousand dollars in cash. This year, we’re focusing on the bare essentials.”