Sky high halibut prices continue - black cod too

It used to be that halibut prices would drop each summer when other fisheries got underway. But no longer - prices for halibut started off in early March well over three dollars a pound in most ports - and there they've remained. This week in Kodiak, halibut prices were hovering at 3.30 a pound for 10 to 20 pounders, 3.55 for 20 to 40's and 3.75 for 40-ups. At Homer, halibut prices were at 3.30, 3.65 and 3.85 per pound. prices at Dutch Harbor had jumped more than 40 cents with halibut at 3.10, 3.25 and 3.55. In Southeast, prices were at 3.30, 3.50 and 3.80, with some reports at 3.95. Homer leads all other ports for halibut landings, followed by Seward, Kodiak, Sitka and Juneau.

Prices for black cod, or sablefish, were also up across the board. Black cod is broken into five prices, depending on size. At Kodiak, one buyer called prices ungodly- they ranged from 2.90 to 4 dollars a pound. At Homer, black cod was fetching 3.20 to 4.50. at Dutch Harbor, black cod prices were at 2.95 to 4.35. And in Southeast, black cod prices had reached 3.10 to 4.50 a pound. Seward led other ports for those landings, followed by Sitka, Dutch Harbor and Kodiak. To date, 40 percent of Alaska's 53 million pound halibut catch limit has been landed, or 21 and a half million pounds. Black cod landings topped 16 million pounds, or 48 percent of that catch quota. Both fisheries run through mid-November.

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