Fish Factor

There’s lots of movement in Alaska’s salmon permit markets, but sales of catch shares are in a stall.

Permit values are up and down depending on region, and interest reflects how the salmon runs have been coming in. For example at Bristol Bay, where sockeye runs for two years have been down and another lackluster season is expected this summer, salmon drift permit values have nosedived from a $165,000 high water mark in 2011 to around $90,000 now.

“It’s hard to imagine they will go up a lot with a catch forecast of 16 to 17 million salmon this year,” said Doug Bowen at Alaska Boats and Permits...