Tag Archives: Alaska’s seafood industry
Trident to sell Kodiak plant to Pacific Seafood
Kodiak’s largest seafood processing plant has a new owner. Trident Seafoods announced on Oct. 14 that it reached a deal with Pacific Seafood for the downtown facility. The Star of Kodiak plant in its namesake town is the last plant to sell after Trident, which is based in Seattle, announced a major restructuring plan back in December 2023, which included selling four plants in Alaska – a third of the company’s facilities in the state. Trident noted the tough state of the seafood industry for its decision – a market collapse detailed by a recent “economic snapshot” from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which found that Alaska’s seafood industry was worth $1.8 billion less in 2023 than it was in 2022. Links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:39
Alaska’s seafood industry lost $1.8 billion last year, NOAA report says
A variety of market forces combined with fishery collapses occurring in a rapidly changing environment caused Alaska’s seafood industry to lose $1.8 billion from 2022 to 2023, a new federal report said. The array of economic and environmental challenges has devastated one of Alaska’s main industries, said the report, issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And the losses extend beyond economics, casting doubt on prospects for the future, the report said. The losses also extend beyond Alaska. Nationwide, Alaska’s seafood industry woes caused the loss from 2022 to 2023 of more than 38,000 jobs and a $4.3 billion decline in total U.S. output, the report said. There was also a loss of $269 million in combined state and local tax revenues, the report said. The states most affected beyond Alaska were those on the West Coast. The report breaks down the dollar losses. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:14
Unalaska, Aleutians East Borough oppose Rep. Peltola’s proposed trawling limitations
Communities in the Aleutians are pushing back against proposed legislation that would bring stricter regulations to the Bering Sea trawl fishery. The City of Unalaska and the Aleutians East Borough are among 53 organizations that signed onto a letter sent to U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, urging her to withdraw H.R. 8507, a bill she sponsored in May. The proposed legislation aims to add new regulations to where trawling can take place across the United States, not only in Alaska. Trade organizations and some coastal communities whose economies rely on trawl fisheries have pushed back against the bill, asking the congresswoman to repeal it. “If enacted, H.R. 8507 would directly harm fishermen and coastal communities in Alaska and throughout our nation, along with countless other people who rely on a healthy domestic seafood sector for food, jobs, and their way of life,” the letter said. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:28
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
