On a sunny morning in Garibaldi, Oregon, Jesse Coon offloads his catch. Men in waterproof fishing bibs pack salmon into ice and hose out the boat, named Steel Fin.

Standing next to stacked coolers of freshly caught fish, Coon pulls out one of the Chinook salmon his crew just caught and explains how it senses bait in the water.

“If you look at it really close, there’s actually pores — holes right there — and that’s their nervous system. And they can sense electricity that’s put off by bait fish, and every living creature," he said.

But to find salmon, Coon has to travel miles offshore, searching for dense shoals and burning lots of fuel. Oregon’s commercial troll salmon season opened April 14, but the biggest catches typically arrive later in the summer. It’s still early in the season, and it’s hard to know how good the fishing will be.

Since the war in Iran began in late February, another factor is compounding that risk. Diesel costs have surged, cutting thousands of dollars from already thin margins.

“ It just makes your decision-making harder on when to go and when not to go, and whether to go a little early in the season when the fishing might not be quite as good. It just really feels like a gamble,” he said.

So far, he said, the numbers aren’t looking good.

“ We’ve probably made a few thousand dollars is all, after the fuel costs,” Coon said, referencing the first two weeks of salmon season. “ I could do that working at Home Depot or McDonald’s or something.”

Coon, a fourth-generation fisherman born and raised in Tillamook County, was considering tying up his boat for a week until the season ramps up to save on costs.

“But if everybody sits around and waits for a good fishing report, then nobody’s out there looking,” he said. “Somebody’s gotta do the gambling.”

Ultimately, Coon decided to keep fishing.

His great-grandfather moved to the area during World War II and fished for salmon out of Pacific City, back when they used rowboats with outboard motors.

Coon recently took his 6-year-old son out for a fishing trip. “Says he just wants to live on the ocean. So I guess it’s in the blood,” he said.

At a nearby dock, Hank Slavens unloads his catch after chasing salmon for three days. He said he spent $1,500 on fuel for the trip and his earnings were slim.

“We found probably seven grand worth of fish,” he said. That’s roughly 20% of the trip’s value.

“The percentage of fuel and product is getting bad. Sometimes if you’re not really getting them (fish), it’s huge,” he said.

High costs ripple through the industry

Rising diesel prices are not just squeezing fishermen, but the fishing industry across the Pacific Northwest. It’s cutting into profits and adding new uncertainty to an already volatile business.

Chris Anderson, fisheries economist at the University of Washington, said stories like Coon’s aren’t surprising. Many fishermen may be considering taking less risk, such as not going out early in the season when the catch is less predictable. That has a ripple effect throughout the industry.

If people tie up their boats, then processors also don’t receive enough supply or have work for their crews. Retailers also don’t have products to sell.

“We lose that economic multiplier of the post-harvest fishing sector locally,” he said.

The impact also stretches internationally. Anderson said seafood is one of the most globally traded food commodities in the world. Much of Oregon and Washington seafood, including salmon, sablefish, and Dungeness crab, is distributed to global markets.

“For some of our species that are heavily internationally traded, we lose that revenue and those trade relationships,” he said.

Those relationships can take years to rebuild.

Filling up 10,000 gallon tanks

The impact of rising fuel costs isn’t equal across the industry.

Trawl vessels, which drag big nets through the water to harvest shrimp and ground fish, have the highest fuel burden, Anderson said. They need bigger engines, and burn high volumes of fuel.

In Brookings, on the Southern Oregon coast, Brad Pettinger runs a trawl operation with two 80-foot boats, each with a 10,000 gallon fuel tank. He said he burns roughly 300 gallons per day.

Pettinger said unlike some captains, he usually covers fuel costs for his boats. This year he might not, which would reduce the crew’s take home pay.

“I may have a discussion with my crew about how we’re going to do this,” he said. “The increase [in fuel costs], we’ll probably take it off the top … Everybody needs to share the burden.”

Politics on the dock

The economic strain of high diesel prices is feeding into broader political debates about the war in Iran.

Even with the fuel hikes, Pettinger said he supports the conflict and the Trump administration generally. During President Trump’s first term, Pettinger said he got a check in the mail through the Seafood Trade Relief Program to compensate for retaliatory tariffs.

“ I have never got any recognition from the federal government for anything before this guy came along,” Pettinger said, referring to Trump.

In April, the United States Department of Agriculture announced a new Office of Seafood. The office aims to offer fishermen access to grants, loans, and new market opportunities.

Pettinger is optimistic.

“It kind of takes the edge off the fuel thing because I know what’s coming, right? It’s gonna get better for fishermen across this country,” he said.

Not everyone agrees. In Ilwaco, Wash., tuna charter captain Mike Colbach is critical of the administration.

“ A lot of people in the fishing business drank the Kool-Aid, right? They think that Donald Trump does no wrong,” he said.

With the high costs of fuel, he said he’s starting to see a change.

“Now that people are putting $6.50 a gallon diesel in their trucks, all of a sudden people are starting to sour a little bit on the war and the president.”

Back in Garibaldi, fourth-generation fisherman Jesse Coon said even if fishing is tough right now, he has hope.

“ I believe that the person that wants to do it hard enough, bad enough, is going to find a way to stay in it for sure.”

He said he believes the next generation of fishermen — the fifth for his family — will keep the tradition alive.

Rachel Miller-Howard is a freelance reporter for the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/05/15/oregon-washington-fishing-industry-squeeze-high-fuel-costs/