The Rise and Fall Of Norwegian Salmon
THANKS to cultivation, salmon has become one of the more widely available and popular fish. Statistics for total salmon consumption are not available, but in 1989 Americans ate an estimated 64 million pounds of fresh whole salmon, about two-thirds of it farm-raised. No farmed salmon were on the market before 1981.
The Norwegians have led the way. As a result of their aggressive marketing, demand for salmon of all kinds, including the wild Pacific catch, expanded in the United States. In the mid-1980's, before countries like Canada, Chile and the United States began cultivating Atlantic salmon, nearly 80 percent of all fresh salmon sold on the American market was Norwegian.
Now, many fish markets and restaurants refer to all the salmon they sell as "Norwegian salmon." For example, some chefs and retailers, when pressed, will say their salmon is Norwegian salmon "raised in Canada." In fact, Norwegian salmon is becoming the generic term for all cultivated Atlantic salmon.
But for nearly two years, despite what the menu or the clerk at the fish counter might say, no significant amount of whole fresh Norwegian salmon has been available in this country.
In April, the International Trade Commission of the Commerce Department imposed a duty of 18 to 34 percent on all imports of whole salmon from Norway. The action was a response to a complaint filed in February 1990 by a group of Maine salmon farmers, backed by a Canadian company; they asserted that Norwegians were "dumping" large quantities of salmon on the Canadian and American markets at prices below wholesale.
The complaint charged that the Norwegian industry was Government subsidized. Norwegian salmon farmers denied that, and the Norwegians are appealing the ruling.
The tariff, which averages 26 percent, has priced whole fresh Norwegian salmon out of the market. It is now available only frozen, smoked or dressed and pan-ready. Most whole fresh Atlantic salmon on the American market is now imported from Chile and Canada. In the view of some experts, those countries are likely to reap the biggest windfall from the ruling.
Atlantic salmon cultivated by American companies now amounts to less than 10 percent of the American market. Colin McLernon, chairman of Maine Pride Salmon, which raises salmon, said he was optimistic that the tariff will allow American producers to acquire a bigger share of the market.
Other countries, including Iceland, Scotland, Ireland and Denmark, have started exporting whole farmed salmon to the United States. The wholesale price for farmed Atlantic salmon is now $3.50 to $4 a pound, slightly more than what it was 18 months ago.