In the wild, the same type of fish takes three to five years to reach maturity, getting most of its growth in the final months. Chilean salmon companies also don't have to pay as much for people to raise or process the fish. Senior fish farm managers make the same as their counterparts in North America, but below management, the employees make a third of what is paid in the United States. Chilean farmers employ three times as many people as those in Norway for the same amount of salmon. In comparison, Alaska fishermen fall in between, using twice as many people to haul in the same catch as a Norwegian farmer, but fewer than in Chile.
Regulations can also make or break an industry.
In Chile and Norway the government smoothed the way for salmon farms, investing in research, developing the infrastructure and making it easy for companies to lease bays or inlets. The opposite is true in Washington state, where it has become so difficult to get a salmon farm permit most companies gave up, said Dan Swecker, a state legislator. That permit, which went through 13 appeals before being approved in 1992, was the last one granted in Washington. Regulation adds to the expense of fishing in Alaska as well. Not only is there the obvious cost of permits, but also fisheries managers set rules to protect wild salmon that also drive up fishermen's costs, said Anchorage economist Knapp.