As per the report prepared for the Marine Conservation Alliance and two major processor interests, commercial fisheries has packed $5.8 billion impact in the state. It is said that in 2007 Alaska accounted for more than 62 percent of the volume of the commercial seafood harvested in the United States. Economists with Northern Economics also told that Alaska produces more than half of the nation’s seafood landings, and accounts for 56,600 direct jobs and 22,000 indirect jobs within Alaska, more than the oil and gas and mining industries combined.
The report put the value of sport fishing in Alaska in 2007 at $1.3 billion, including licenses, trip fees, equipment and other items for sport fishing trips. Dave Benton, executive director of MCA, informed that the seafood industry will take a bit of a hit because of the U.S. and world economies, but we have the tools in place now to weather the storm, to be more efficient in terms of reducing costs.
Benton opined that MCA, along with the groups At-Sea Processors Association and the Pacific Seafood Processors Association, ordered the report to get a complete picture of the economic impact of the commercial harvest of seafood on Alaska. MCA, based in Juneau, is a seafood industry trade association that represents hundreds of fishermen, vessel owners, processors and communities involved in Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska groundfish and crab fisheries. Its members include the At-Sea Processors Association and the Pacific Seafood Processors Association.
The report mentioned that part of the 2009 economic picture for Alaska fisheries includes reductions in harvest limits of pollock and groundfish announced in December by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and more cuts in halibut harvests that were approved in January by the International Pacific Halibut Commission. Harvest limits are adjusted annually by both entities with the goal of keeping the fisheries sustainable.
Benton also said that Alaska’s seafood industry has played a major role in the state’s history and remains a major part of Alaska’s economy today, with more jobs than any other private-sector spread, from the biggest cities to the smallest villages.
