ABSTRACT
Cultured product has become the dominant source of salmon in many regional and national seafood markets. During the last decade net-pen-farmed salmon supplies have grown at an average rate of 50,000 metric tons per year. By the year 2000, farmed product is expected to total over 1 million metric tons and comprise almost half of global salmon production. Private and public salmon ranching has also increased and is a major source of production in many Pacific Rim regions including Japan, Russia, the Columbia River, and Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The rapid growth of salmon aquaculture, combined with production of wild Alaskan salmon, has resulted in global price decreases of 30 to 80%, major industry consolidation in both salmon aquaculture and commercial wild salmon fisheries, and increased emphasis on marketing and trade. Improvements in aquaculture technology are expected to continue through the next decade, resulting in increasing production and stable or decreasing prices for many species and product forms. Economic analysis suggests that, given these market realities and the constraints associated with rebuilding wild salmon resources, it will be difficult to sustain wild and cultured salmon industries in the Pacific Northwest. To increase success, regional governments and industry must recognize the new world order in global salmon markets, objectively assess industry strengths and weaknesses, and develop rights-based strategies—those which reward private and public entrepreneurs whose market-driven strategies are socially efficient and profitable, yet sustain salmon resources consistent with evolving ecosystem-based management systems. Market-driven and property rights-based strategies may include watershed-based user fees for terminal recreational and commercial fisheries, promotion of watershed “varieties” for the tourist trade and niche markets, marketing quality-assured frozen salmon for year-round distribution, providing ancillary sportfishing and ecotourism services, and eco-labeling and marketing of watershed-based salmon products and services.
