According to the news report an estimated 20,000 deckhands work onboard Alaskan fishing boats, but as self employed workers, they don’t provide typical wage and employment data to the state. That’s left a whole work force largely unaccounted for in terms of its economic input and importance. Jan Conitz, director of the labor data project for the AK Dept. of Fish and Game, said that the people who work as crew members on fishing boats are one of the only groups of laborers in Alaska that are not counted in some way by the state.
Geron Bruce, assistant director of the commercial fisheries division, who has spearheaded the project, informed that people buy a crew members licence but it is not known whether they fish, what fisheries they fish in, how many, how long – any of that kind of stuff. It is told that the lack of data also has kept deckhands on the losing end of quota systems that dole out shares of the catch.
Conitz admits some fishermen are skittish about providing more data to the government, but she said most agree the accounting is necessary. A big driver is the trend towards IFQs. Shawn Dochtermann, a Kodiak fisherman and industry panel member, agreed that the deckhand data is important. The agency and industry team will meet in December to finalize its recommendations to the Alaska legislature.
