Sockeye salmon prices to jump

Shoppers will only find fresh sockeye salmon in stores for a few more days and should expect shortages and higher prices in the frozen food aisle this winter, fishmongers are predicting.

At Calgary-based fish wholesaler City Fish, co-owner Nelson Leung said demand is high but the supply short for restaurants and fish markets looking for wild sockeye.

Leung said there is probably only a week left for those wanting fresh sockeye and the price usually goes up as the season comes to an end.

"Sockeye salmon is, I think, in my opinion, probably the best salmon on the market, compared to the other wild salmon. It tastes better, and [has] less fat content," he said.

Fresh wild sockeye is usually available from May through September, as the fishing starts in Alaska and moves south, said Bryan Fallwell, president of Alberta's Billingsgate Fish.

But sockeye salmon fishing on the Fraser River in B.C. has been closed this summer because the run is expected to be only 600,000 fish, about seven per cent of the originalforecast of 8.7 million.

Some fresh wild salmon left

"They were all significantly down, but it's typical with fish runs. Every year is not a peak season for salmon. They run in cycles. So you get peak years and non-peak years," Fallwell said.

Fallwell's stores still have small quantities of fresh wild salmon left, which might last a week. He predicts frozen sockeye will be pricier and harder to find this winter.

"Seafood is very much a supply and demand situation," he said.

Fallwell said fish suppliers hope the sockeye population will soon rebound, but it's tough to predict.

"You can't tell with these things from year to year," he said.

Some experts blame warmer ocean and river temperatures, and declining food supplies in the open oceans for the failing salmon runs.

Scientists, environmentalists, politicians and fish farmers have also been arguing for years about the impact salmon farms in B.C.are having on young salmon fry, with many opponents of fish farms saying sea lice from the industrial operations would decimate wild salmon stocks.