The Kenai Peninsula’s economy depends even more on the ocean and rivers than is apparent on paper.

Some are obvious: fishing, shipping and marine fishing guiding all depend on the ocean directly. However, others — such as processing, oil and gas support services and fishing gear retailers — only “touch” the water and may not be counted on a cursory glance. When added together, about 3,400 people on the peninsula work in a maritime-related profession, the most of any sector in the region, according to the 2016 Situations and Prospects report from the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District.

The annual report, which provides data and forward-looking estimates on the economy for the Kenai Peninsula, details a growing maritime sector that paid approximately $177 million in wages in 2014, the most of any industry in the region.

Most of the employment is in commercial fishing — almost half the workers are self-employed commercial fishermen, as are the vast majority of the earnings, according to the report.

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development would not classify some maritime-related professions, such as fish processing, as farming, fishing or agriculture — they are classed as manufacturing. That separates some of the data, said Rick Roeske, the executive director of KPEDD. Because the economy on the peninsula is relatively small compared to cities like Anchorage, KPEDD has to blend together some data for confidentiality purposes, he said.

“You wouldn’t think that the peninsula manufactures a lot, but when you look at that data, 80 percent of it is fish processing,” Roeske said.

Fishing is a major driver in the four largest cities on the peninsula — Homer, Kenai Soldotna and Seward. The three ports in Homer, Kenai and Seward landed 85.2 million pounds of commercial fish in 2014, with Homer leading — its commercial fishermen landed 74 percent of all pounds of fish that Kenai Peninsula residents harvested and earned 65 percent of the gross earnings that year, according to the report.

However, other industries that depend on the sea are also growing. Cook Inlet is home to a vast number of seafaring boats, supporting a large boat service industry. More cruise ships are coming to Seward and Homer each year as well, bringing in tourism revenue and funds from the state’s commercial passenger vessel excise tax.

City administrations in Seward and Homer are in the process of improving their ports. Homer recently finished a paving project to provide access to its deep water dock. The city is also in the process of conducting a feasibility study to expand the dock, which should be finished and sent to the Homer City Council for review in the fall, said Bryan Hawkins, the harbormaster.