yak2you2
2013-08-05 04:31:19
So what are the usual specified reasons for opposing it? First, as was pointed out in a different post, the added weight of the guts and gills would be money lost by the processor. I've offered many times to offset the cost of this by accepting a reduced price for round fish weight, still no dice. The second reason specified is, belly burn. It is true that coho particularly, and Chinook occasionally, have a handful or two of bait in their bellies. So, comparing them to other round fish deliveries like gillnet sockeye, or troll chums, is apples and oranges. These fish have virtually nothing in them.
Here is my argument. Feed will soften and discolor the belly walls, this is just a fact. However, I believe the processors are looking at it wrong. I believe what causes this is; there are occasions when a fish gets conked, and gutted on the spot. Most of us strive for this. It is a fact of life though, that there are other times when fish are coming in off of the lines 20 at a time. Guys are going through the checkers as fast as they can, but it takes some time. This is where belly burn happens. If a coho, full of feed, is tossed directly into slush ice and delivered the same day, it does not happen. I know, I've tried it this year.
Remember that I gillnet also. I caught a heck of a lot of cohos while netting for sockeye this year. We only got paid .25 per lb. for them do to soft tissue and scale loss issues, but they were buying them, so I brought em. I put them right in the slush tote with the sockeyes, held them for 6 hours or so then delivered them. Before I did, I zipped a couple of them open just to check it out. No belly burn, none. Even with a handful of bait. I do not think that any more than day tripping would be advisable, but I know it could work.
And there's a benefit for the processor that would be open minded enough to try it. For those of us that have been in this game before the advent of the FDA crack downs, you'll remember when we could keep the eggs and sell them. This process was abolished some years back, and by the way, no one has ever adequately explained the reason for this to me. How can my cleaning skills be good enough to sell the fish, but not whats in the fish??? Anyway, you can't sell the eggs currently, so we dump them. I remember a big coho day for a cranker, 150 or so, heaving a good 50-60 lbs. of eggs in the last basket up. That's a lot of revenue going unutilized by the troll industry as a whole. If more of us continued to apply pressure, it would be neat to see it get at least a fair try. Guarantee you though, the only way it will work is immediate slush ice.