Seafood employs more people in Southcentral than mining in the entire state, pays out more in Anchorage than construction, and has enough management and logistics infrastructure in Anchorage to rival that of Seattle, according to a new report.
Juneau-based economics firm McDowell Group released a report on the economic impacts of the Alaska seafood industry on the Southcentral Alaska region on June 10.
The Alaska Salmon Alliance, a commercial fishermen organization, commissioned the study. Arni Thomson, the ASA executive director, said he wanted the study to combat the misconception that fishing is reserved for the more far-flung areas of the state.
“So many in the region are focused on oil, gas, mining and construction to make a living,” wrote Thomson in an email. “They completely overlook the economic significance of our hidden seafood industry in Southcentral Alaska.”
According to the report, the seafood industry is a major engine for Southcentral Alaska, with 2,168 active commercial fishing permits, 35 processing plants, and three salmon hatcheries working to produce $1.2 billion of total economic output for the region.
Of the total, $685 million came from first wholesale value of seafood products, and $501 million came from gross value added through secondary impacts.
Secondary impacts include transportation, retail, fuel services, storage, boat building, materials, and fisheries management.
The report was meant to provide a highly detailed look at Southcentral’s fishing industry, including city-by-city analyses and in-depth examinations of secondary industries, said Andy Wink, the lead researcher at McDowell Group for the project.
“We took a much deeper dive into it,” Wink said. “We profiled the impact at a local and subarea level: What does it mean for Anchorage, Kenai, Homer, Valdez, Cordova. We really tried to draw the connection between what the industry does in terms of how many they’re catching, where they’re living, where they fish, the processors, and the support sectors.”
Among other deviations from typical fisheries studies, McDowell’s report also uses both ex-vessel price and first wholesale price to examine economic impacts.
Ex-vessel price is what fishermen are paid at the dock for unprocessed fish. First wholesale is the price at which processors will sell their final products. According to Wink, this gives a more precise view of how, and in what quantity, fish money flows through the economy.
The seafood industry makes up 3 percent of Southcentral’s total labor earnings, more than mining or manufacturing. Even if processing and secondary jobs are ignored, the Southcentral fishing industry employs 37 percent more people than the entire statewide mining industry, according to statistics compiled by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
“There is a misperception that commercial fishing in Alaska, including (Southcentral) Alaska, is dominated by Outside interests and large foreign-owned corporations,” said Thomson. “The opposite is the case with (Southcentral) Alaska resident commercial fishermen and most of the seafood processing companies.”
The seafood industry directly employed 10,840 people in Southcentral Alaska during 2013. This includes resident commercial fishermen and processing workers, hatchery employees, and commercial fisheries management-related staff who together commanded a total labor income of $247 million. When considering secondary impact jobs, the number jumps to $411 million.
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