Ilwaco fishermen land bumper catch of albacore

By The Associated Press

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive

ILWACO, Pacific County — This scenic town at the mouth of the Columbia River has a new title: albacore capital of the state.

As the season winds down, fishermen have hauled nearly 14 million pounds of the prized tuna to Ilwaco's two seafood processors.

This year's albacore landings nearly doubled last year's haul and were far more than all of Oregon's fishing ports landed in 2003.

Ilwaco, long known for salmon fishing at the Columbia's mouth, is now the largest commercial albacore port in Washington, spokesman Doug Williams of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife said yesterday.

Albacore, the major tuna species caught in the Pacific Northwest, show up about 20 to 50 miles offshore in late July and stick around in large numbers through September. Some fishermen chase them until Thanksgiving.

Though destined for canneries in foreign countries, primarily Spain and Ecuador, the fish pumped about $15 million into the local economy.

Another 1.7 million pounds of albacore were landed across the river in Oregon this year.

For this year at least, albacore outstripped the mainstay Dungeness crab as the single most valuable fishery in Ilwaco.

The bumper albacore catch also may be worth more than Ilwaco's commercial crab, sardine, salmon, shrimp, whiting and bottom-fish catches combined, according to a review by the Daily News of Longview of catch records and price data from the Port of Ilwaco, Sunrise Seafoods in Ilwaco, the state and an independent fisheries economist.

Jim Stiebritz, who runs Sunrise Seafoods, said tuna prices have slipped recently to $1,250 a ton because of a worldwide glut and higher shipping costs. Five years ago, the price was nearly 50 percent higher but the local catch was much smaller.

Like many fisheries, the albacore numbers are cyclical. In the late 1990s, a natural cycle brought more nutrients into the ocean food chain, which resulted in greater numbers of smaller fish, such as anchovies and sardines.

That, in turn, provided more food for larger predator fish, such as salmon and tuna.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company