Diversity Key to Success for Canneries.

• Author: KELSEY, MARK
• Position: Industry Overview

Though many of the state's canneries have faced difficult times, there is hope on the horizon.

In the storm-tossed world of making a living off the sea, processors around the state are finding the key to staying afloat is not to buck the tides of change.

Gone are the days of huge canning operations that were little cities unto themselves, housing and feeding workers through the summer salmon runs. And while there are big plants still in existence around the state supplying the canned salmon market, the trend now is toward smaller specialty operations that no longer rely exclusively on canning to make a go.

"In the seafood industry, it's very difficult to rely on one product or one product form," said Barbara Belknap, executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. "If you don't have one product to make up for the loss of another, it's very difficult."

Belknap, who has been with ASMI for nearly 12 years, has seen some changes in the industry during her tenure. Despite the processors who have shut their doors and the commercial fishermen who have left the business bemoaning a lack of resources, Belknap says the number of people in the industry has remained constant.

"Everybody is sure (the Alaska seafood market is) declining, but we're the envy of the world," she said. "We can get so caught up in our allocation battles that we forget our place in the world."

That place, according to ASMI statistics, is huge. If Alaska were a country, it would be the fourth leading seafood producer in the world. And domestically, the state's harvest comprises 60 percent of the United States' annual catch.

Even so, Belknap concedes that all is not rosy for the industry. Logistical concerns and lack of infrastructure have increased competitive pressure from outside Alaska, especially in the canning industry, which is dominated by large-scale operations in western Canada.

"It's a competitive market out there," she said. "And it's a very complicated industry. One of the things keeping processors from doing their thing in state is that supplies need to be shipped in. There's no one-stop shopping."

Outside canneries often are self-contained operations that have a local manufacturing base from which to draw such supplies as cans, labels and boxes. But Belknap said a growing distribution network and a healthy, consistent demand for canned salmon has enabled some in-state canneries to stay in operation--and even expand.

NorQuest, for example, a statewide...