Alaska seafood industry creates jobs, opportunities: facilitating growth in business, total economic output.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: FISHERIES

Julie Decker has been commercial fishing for nineteen years; her husband, Gig, has been a commercial fisherman for forty years, starting soon after he graduated college. Each summer, they take their two children, ages twelve and fourteen, out on their boat to gillnet for salmon. For the Deckers, fishing not only helps them earn a living, but provides a type of lifestyle that they couldn't find anywhere else.

"There are a lot of benefits--you work mainly for yourself and you have a flexible schedule to a degree," explains Julie Decker, who also works as the development director for Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, Inc. "As small boat commercial fishermen, we get to have our family on board, which is really, really nice. It's a great way to raise a family. And of course, you get to work outside in a beautiful environment--that's a huge plus."

While happy to live a lifestyle that most people don't get to experience, Decker adds that it can be a little more volatile than most jobs. "When the money is good, it's good, but when it's not, it's not," she adds. "It's similar to farming in that you've got boom and bust seasons. Those who are the most successful these days are the people who diversify, working different fisheries at different times of the year. That way, if one fishery is bad because of returns, or gear conflicts, or even sea otters, they're not relying on it 100 percent."

Just as fishing helps to support the Decker family, the seafood industry helps support the state of Alaska and its residents. According to a report released in August of 2013, "Economic Value of the Alaska Seafood Industry," published by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) in 2011, the industry directly employed 63,100 workers in the state, making it Alaska's largest private sector employer. Roughly one in eight workers earned at least part of their annual income directly from the seafood industry, producing $4.6 billion worth of wholesale seafood and resulting in an estimated $1.7 billion in labor income.

Jobs and income created as a result of business and personal spending connected to the Alaska seafood industry (the multiplier effect) raises these numbers even higher. Including multiplier effects, Alaska's seafood industry is the basis for 77,400 jobs in the state, providing $2.2 billion of labor income and $6.8 billion in total economic output in 2011.

"What's pretty cool is that because this is a renewable resource, Alaska will continue to...