2014 already a better year.

• Author: Harrington, Susan
• Position: FROM THE EDITOR - Column

Right out of the gate, 2014 is looking to be a better year than 2013. Not that I'm superstitious; I'm not (usually). However, the only traffic violation I ever received, and that was more than twenty years ago, was for going thirteen miles over the speed limit, thirteen minutes after midnight, on the thirteenth of the month. Bad luck with the number thirteen? You be the judge.

As for 2014-I am hopeful and encouraged for Alaska. There is great promise for a better economy and a better future for our children and grandchildren. We are buoyed up, of course, by the positive changes coming forth in the oil and gas industry, the quintessential financier of the Alaska state government. Another big economic engine, but one that's often overlooked, is the seafood industry.

"Alaska Seafood Industry Creates Jobs, Opportunities: Facilitating growth in business, total economic output" is a most informative article by Vanessa Orr (page 86). A frequent freelancer to Alaska Business Monthly, Orr details how well the industry is doing by sharing interviews and information from the Deckers, a Southeast Alaska family that makes their living via commercial fishing; a fisheries guru, Northern Economics Vice President and Senior Economist Marcus Hartley; and a man who knows all about the Alaska seafood industry--Tyson Fick of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Learning about the literally tens of thousands of jobs and multiple billions of dollars infused into the economies of...