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Economics of Harvesting Weigh Heavy on Alaska’s Fishing Industry

6Nov

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Economics of Harvesting Weigh Heavy on Alaska’s Fishing Industry

The rising costs of harvesting seafood are weighing heavily on the seafood industry, with employment down 8% in 2023, according to a report in Alaska Economic Trends magazine. The summary in the magazine’s November 2024 edition notes that prices didn't dramatically increase in 2024, so overall employment isn't likely to bounce back, but if prices do recover for most species, there will be fish to catch. Over the last decade, fish harvesting employment has fallen more than 30%. The only industry that fared worse in that time period was oil & gas, according to Joshua Warren, an economist with the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The seafood industry in Alaska has struggled over the past year, with some fisheries closed, including the Bering Sea snow crab...

Alaska Board of Fisheries to Consider Proposal That Would Impact Hatchery Production

A proposal to reduce hatchery production of pink and chum salmon by 25% is expected to be considered at the Alaska Board of Fisheries meeting taking place Dec. 1-16 in Cordova, Alaska. The effort is led by the Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp. (PWSAC) and the Valdez Fisheries Development Association (VFDA). Proposal 78, by former Alaska Board of Fisheries member Virgil Umphenour of Fairbanks, argues that there’s significant evidence that there’s an ocean carrying capacity that is exacerbated by the proliferation of Alaskan and Asian hatchery releases into the North Pacific Ocean. The proposal contends that this is of particular importance to Chinook salmon as stocks have declined dramatically all over Alaska, including the Yukon River drainage, where they are critical to ...

Alaska Fisheries Suffered $1.8B Loss in 2021-23: AFSC Report

NOAA Fisheries economists say Alaska’s fishing industry suffered a $1.8 billion loss in 2022 and 2023, and that the state’s commercial fisheries overall saw a 50% decline in profitability from 2021 through 2023. “The social and economic ramifications of Alaska’s losses have reverberated down the West Coast and across the country,” Robert Foy, director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, said in a report released Oct. 9. The downturn resulted in the loss of over 38,000 jobs nationwide and a $4.3 billion loss in total domestic dollar value of all goods and services produced. Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington collectively showed a loss of $191 million in state and local tax revenues. The economic impact on fisheries in 2023 prompted the seafood industry to ask NOAA Fi...