The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association will be sending ballots out to 1,875 drift gillnet permit holders in late March asking them whether they want to tax themselves 1 percent of what they are paid for their salmon, which comes to about three cents per fish.
Bristol Bay salmon account for nearly one-third of the value of all salmon caught in Alaska, but the ex-vessel value is lower than that of almost any other region in the state, and the gap is widening. Up until 1998, Bristol Bay fishermen got about 75 cents on the dollar compared to what other salmon fishermen around the state averaged for their catch. Today they receive 60 percent of what other regions get.
Despite this disparity, no broad-based organization currently promotes Bristol Bay seafood, works to improve quality or addresses infrastructure needs — all of which can help improve ex-vessel prices.
The state of Alaska passed legislation in 2004 allowing salmon fishermen to tax themselves in order to form a regional seafood development association, or RSDA. Under the new law, an RSDA may market and promote the region’s seafood, seek improvements to the area’s infrastructure and work to raise quality. An RSDA also may conduct market research, education and product development.
RSDAs are organized and managed by permit holders. In June 2005, a group of Bristol Bay driftnet fishermen filed an application to establish a RSDA for the Bristol Bay region. The state approved the application, establishing the BB-RSDA and allowing it to move forward with the funding process.
To fund the RSDA, permit holders must vote to approve an assessment on their harvests. Thirty percent of the permit holders in each gear group must vote and a majority of those voting must approve the assessment. Each area gear group votes separately on self-assessment. Assessment revenues are collected by the state and then appropriated to the RSDA.
Setnetters are expected to join the RSDA and conduct a similar election.
If approved, the tax will raise an estimated $850,000 to $1 million to go toward improving values of Bristol Bay seafood, mainly sockeye. That amount is roughly the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s annual promotional budget for all of Alaska’s sockeye.
The tax would be in addition to the 1 percent tax salmon fishermen statewide have levied on them to fund ASMI, which also gets revenue from a 0.3 percent tax on all seafood, including the lucrative Bering Sea pollock fishery.
A board elected by permit holders will control the BB-RSDA. That elected board will determine policies, priorities and specific programs.
Seats on the elected board will reflect the proportionate assessments paid by each gear group. Currently an interim board is volunteering to help with the initial organization of the BB-RSDA.
Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978, and designs and builds gear for the industry.
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