Alaska's foreign fish exports often reprocessed: Alaska's seafood harvest is number one in the United States.

• Author: Swagel, Will
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: International Trade

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More than 3 billion pounds of fish were harvested in Alaska waters in 2015--a record year--and that's only counting pollock and salmon. These billions of pounds are exported domestically and to customers throughout the world. In 2014, Alaska ranked number one in the United States for seafood landings with a harvest of 5.7 billion pounds worth $1.7 billion.

To keep those exports flowing, a small legion of Alaskans analyzes the demand for Alaska products and works to stoke it hotter. Each overseas market presents specific demands and opportunities. In China, for instance--which suffers from contaminated food scandals--Alaska fisheries enjoy an image of wholesome purity. But markets in the European Union can be more skeptical about both safety and sustainability of Alaska seafood.

One export expert is Alexa Tonkovich, executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI). Tonkovich worked in ASMI's International Program for six years and still oversees the program. Tonkovich was named executive director in October 2015. ASMI describes itself as a "public-private partnership between the state of Alaska and the Alaska seafood industry [that was] established to foster economic development of seafood, a renewable natural resource."

Japan and China

In Asia, Japan has long been the number one market for Alaska seafood, Tonkovich says, but recently China has moved ahead in the amount of Alaska seafood the country imports. China is a growing market, but the high figures have a caveat--China is also a major country in reprocessing Alaska fish.

Millions of pounds of salmon and pollock, for example, are headed, gutted, and blast frozen in Alaska, then shipped to China to be fileted and portioned. Individually-packaged meal-sized portions are growing in popularity among restaurants and food services and even with home cooks. Much of the re-processed fish is then shipped back to the United States and other countries.

"If you just look at export figures, China comes out on top, but it may not be the largest end user of Alaska seafood, [since] some of that is re-exported," Tonkovich says. "Japan is probably still the largest end user."

ASMI's figures for 2014 show China importing nearly $960 million (29.2 percent of Alaska's foreign seafood exports). Alaska ex ported $672 million to Japan (20.5 percent of the total). South Korea imported about $366 million (11.2 percent of the total).

But as with China, not all of South...