Alaska fisheries gain ground: history shows impact of sea's bounty on state economy.

• Author: Colby, Nicole A. Bonham

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This year's strong salmon harvest again highlights the value of seafood in the state's economy and, by association, the economic contribution of those who process the slippery catch.

Such was the salmon bounty this year that it warranted mention in the recap of Alaska's summer season by the economists at the state's Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

"Early numbers show that the 2007 salmon harvest of more than 200 million fish exceeded pre-season forecasts, and will be at least the fifth largest in history," wrote economist Dan Robinson in the October issue of Alaska Economic Trends. But, typical of the unpredictable ebb and flow of a volatile industry, the upshot season didn't exactly give processors forewarning to compensate.

"Those numbers don't immediately translate into a jump in seafood processing jobs, however, since the major hiring decisions are made earlier in the year and the processing plants have limited space for workers," Robinson warned.

CRITICAL ROLE

In spring 2006, the Research and Analysis Section of the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development published a report, "Employment in the Alaska Fisheries," that analyzed the economic health and contribution of the fish harvesting industry to Alaska and its communities.

"In 2004, the state's 6,742 fish harvesting jobs made up 2.9 percent of all private-sector jobs," economists Michael Patton and Dan Robinson reported.

"When the fishing industry is defined to include both harvesting and seafood processing, it accounts for 6.6 percent. That number is up slightly from 2002 when the fishing industry represented about 6.3 percent of the private sector," they stated.

Perhaps that minority percentage does not seem so big. But consider, in comparison, that oil and gas contributed 3.6 percent of private-sector jobs for the same period, and the construction industry 7.7 percent, according to the report. When focusing on where fishing remains king among local industries--Southeast, Gulf Coast and Southwest Alaska--the local impact is much stronger.

For the period studied, "fish harvesting and processing combine to make up 14 percent of Southeast Alaska's private-sector economy," the economists reported. "In the Gulf Coast region, about 18 percent of private-sector jobs are either in fish harvesting or processing. In Southwest ... the fishing industry accounts for just over half of all private-sector employment."

If that doesn't sound high...