Last year turned out to be a good year for Alaska’s seafood industry. Alaska’s fishery resources are the envy of other countries around the world, and its management programs are regarded as a model for sustainability. Record shows that the seafood industry also provides more jobs than the oil/gas, mining, agriculture, forestry and tourism industries combined. Despite all odds Alaska’s seafood industry has many achievements under its belt. High fuel prices that topped $5 per gallon idled 20 percent of Kodiak’s trawl fleet, along with hundreds of local seafood workers. Salmon boats stayed out between fishing openers, hurting coastal economies.
The seafood industry has asked Congress for a tax break from high fuel prices, to no avail. New data from the state Dept. of Labor revealed the average age of Alaska commercial fishermen was 47; nearly 40 percent were non-residents. Nearly half of the state’s fishery biologists continued to drift away due to retirement – or lured by federal pay checks ranging from 35 percent-80 percent higher.
The Bush Administration opened the door for oil/gas lease sales in a nearly 6 million-acre “fish basket” that encompasses most of the southeastern Bering Sea and Bristol Bay. The United Fishermen of Alaska, the nation’s largest fishing trade group, declared fishing rights should also be considered as ‘property rights’ in any lease sales.
Alaska’s seafood message of sustainability and food safety trumped concerns over ‘food miles’ and ‘carbon footprints’ among global buyers. Alaska pollock and hablibut fishery shows good improvement both in landings and prices. The salmon fishery was bit affected but still churned out good results.
