Off the charts': Copper River salmon is already nearing $1,000 per fish

[wildmanyeah]

Off the charts': Copper River salmon is already nearing $1,000 per fish -- and that's just for pre-orders​

Inflation doesn't seem to be taking the wind out of Copper River salmon's first-catch appeal. 'We had so many pre-orders already, tomorrow will be hell,' one seller told IntraFish.

16 May 2022 19:55 GMT UPDATED 17 May 2022 3:31 GMT
By Rachel Sapin


Customers will have yet another year where it will be pricey to get their hands on some of the first Copper River salmon as companies await their first shipments from the Prince William Sound salmon season opener in Alaska.
High prices haven't stopped shoppers at Seattle's famous Pike Place Fish Market before and they certainly won't this year, despite inflation deflating consumer's wallets this spring.
"This is some of the most sought after fish in the world," Kylon Hughes, a fishmonger at the market, told IntraFish on Monday.


Customers are shelling out record amounts for the fish in pre-orders at around $40 (€48) per pound for a whole sockeye that totals around $200 (€191.50) Customers in turn are paying nearly $75 (€71.93) per pound for sockeye fillets.
Customers are willing to pay even more of a premium for Copper River king salmon at around $90 (€86.33) per pound for a whole fish that is 10 pounds as part of a pre-order totaling just under $900 (€862.30). They're also paying around $130 (€86.32) per pound for a king fillet.
The first shipment of sockeye is expected to arrive at the market later this week. The first few days in the fishery are often hectic, with buyers eager to get their hands on limited quantities.

"We had so many pre-orders already, tomorrow will be hell," Hughes added.

'Not for your average consumer'​

Alaska-headquartered harvester, processor and supplier Copper River Seafoods has nearly sold out of its pre-orders for its 8-ounce sockeye salmon portions at $49.99 (€47.95) per pound and 8-ounce king salmon portions at $89.00 (€85.37) per pound.


"Pre-sales are off the charts," Copper River Seafoods Marketing Director Jim Kostka told IntraFish Monday.
"There is definitely pent up demand. The first run, it’s not for your average consumer, it’s for people who want to make a splash and have an event."
Kostka, who has endured many season of Copper River chaos, said it's not unusual for the first fish to obtain premiums, and in fact was expecting prices to be even higher.
"I'm amazed it hasn’t been more," he said, noting fuel costs are up for fishermen, along with logistical costs for both fishermen and buyers this year.
"By the second or third round, the prices should start to drop," he added.

 

[Dave]

Wonder what a black market early Fraser chinook would go for?

 

[Whitebuck]

5-15$ per lb on the black market.
As low as 2$ a lb once the summer rolls on....if I had to guess Dave.


No better tasting fish on earth....

 

[Dave]

5-15$ per lb.
As low as 2$ a lb once the summer rolls on....if I had to guess Dave.

I think I recall Albion test fishery chinooks were $50 a pound at Granville Island a few years ago. That seems ridiculously high so someone please correct me ...

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Wonder what a black market early Fraser chinook would go for?

I

I think I recall Albion test fishery chinooks were $50 a pound at Granville Island a few years ago. That seems ridiculously high so someone please correct me ...

Early time Fraser chinook have the same fat content as copper river chinook that is why we have all the restrictions on them Except for a selective few.

 

[Capt_Ed]

Copper river fish is the biggest marketing scam ever in the commercial industry. Good on them though. I grew up on the Fraser River and I'll put the early April fish against the Copper river springs any day

 

[Sharphooks]

I gill netted sockeye and IMHO, the copper river sockeye (the real one, the one that migrates up the Copper towards Chitina, not the hatchery sockeye sometimes seined near Cordova and marketed as “Copper River” sockeye) deserve at least some of the recognition they get. The more miles they swim, the higher the oil content and the more buttery texture the meat. A Bristol Bay sockeye that may have a 10 mile swim to get to its spawning gravel is not even in the same universe —-dry chewy texture, not melt in your mouth like the Copper fish.

Same with Copper River springs, though if you really want to get snobby, the Yukon River springs (that have pretty much been wiped out) used to be the fish that would get people hyperventilating about how good they were, again because of the high oil content that correlated with the huge distances they had to swim to get to the spawning gravel.

Is a Copper River sockeye worth $ 75 for a fillet? We’re in new territory everywhere with pricing for everything these days so who knows?

I got taken out to dinner by one of my customers the other night (first in-door restaurant in the big city I’ve been to in many months). I was a a bit blown away looking at a menu—-Every entre was between $ 100 - 150 ...wtf? ......I order a spring fillet that was the size of a pack of cigarettes—- and undercooked with zero character—- $ 100.....that worked out to maybe $ 400/lb