Tag Archives: Alaska’s seafood industry
Leading Alaska legislators propose task force to help rescue a seafood industry ‘in a tailspin’
Russian fish flooding global markets and other economic forces beyond the state’s border have created dire conditions for Alaska’s seafood industry. Now key legislators are seeking to establish a task force to come up with some responses to the low prices, lost market share, lost jobs and lost income being suffered by fishers, fishing companies and fishing-related communities. The measure, Senate Concurrent Resolution 10, was introduced on March 1 and is sponsored by the Senate Finance Committee. “Alaska’s seafood industry is in a tailspin from facing unprecedented challenges,” said the measure’s sponsor statement issued by the committee’s co-chairs: Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka; Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel; and Sen. Donny Olson, D-Golovin. The measure is also being promoted by Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak. more, >>click to read<< 09:55
AK seafood earnings, poundage outpaced by Washington state
Alaska’s seafood industry puts more people to work than any other private industry, topping 60,000 workers in 2015. Of that, less than half – 27,600 – were Alaska residents. And while 71 percent of active fishing permit holders call Alaska home, most of the gross earnings go to the state of Washington. Based on numbers from the United Fishermen of Alaska’s annual Fish Facts, resident fishing permit holders made gross dockside earnings of just over $602 million two years ago. That compares to more than $904 million by nearly 6,580 Washington-based permit holders and crew. Fishermen from Oregon took home more than $126 million from Alaska’s fisheries and Californians pocketed nearly $28 million. That adds up to more than $1 Billion flowing out of state by non-resident fishermen. Listen to the audio report, read the rest here 17:29
Seafood harvesting employment in Alaska is on the rise.
A new report in the November edition of state Labor Department publication Alaska Economic Trends says monthly employment in Alaska’s seafood harvesting sector in 2013 grew by 2.4 percent, a level not seen since 2000. Job growth, primarily driven by increased salmon harvesting, brought the year’s monthly average of people employed in seafood harvesting to 8,393, less than 400 shy of 2000’s level,,, Read the rest here 09:09
Fish bucks flow far beyond AK; dock prices over a decade – This is Fish Radio.
What is likely the most comprehensive report ever done on Alaska’s seafood industry was compiled this year by the McDowell Group in Juneau for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. more@fishradio 11:22
Opinion: Halibut plan is best yet: Catch sharing manages uncertainty, conserves stock
Heath Hilyard, the executive director of the Southeast Alaska Guides Organization, is right (Aug. 9, News-Miner). The halibut catch sharing plan, or CSP, isn’t about conservation. It’s about managing the charter halibut resource responsibly so businesses can operate with more certainty. In fact, the plan was supported by the charter sector many times throughout the years for that precise reason. Why the hue and cry now? They want more fish. more@newsminer 12:02
Report shows commercial fishermen earned $1.9 billion fishing North Pacific
Alaska’s seafood industry generated $4.7 billion in sales in 2011, with $2 billion in income, while providing more than 63,000 jobs, a new federal fisheries report says. continue
Fish Factor: Anchorage tops Alaska for fisherman-per-mile. Compiled by United Fishermen of Alaska
By far, most commercial fishing operations in Alaska are small LLCs or family businesses, and each fishing boat is like an individual store front. Alaska’s harbors can be likened to a “mall in a marina.” UFA is “alarmed” at the lack of public awareness about the economic contributions of the Alaska’s seafood industry, said president Arni Thomson of Anchorage. http://www.thedutchharborfisherman.com/article/1250fish_factor_anchorage_tops_alaska_for
