June 26, 2014 — A few processing plants are finding themselves shorthanded as salmon catches increase around the state, but an item in pending U.S. Senate legislation could make it easier to fill vacant positions next summer.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich supported language in the 2015 State and Foreign Operations spending bill that would enable Alaska’s seafood processing industry to once again hire foreign students for temporary positions through a work travel program.
The J-1 visa program grants temporary visas to foreign students interested in working, and traveling, in America. Alaska’s seafood processors were removed from the program in 2012, but language would allow them to participate once again.
The bill still must pass the Senate, and then go to the House, before the program is reinstated.
Participating students typically apply through a nonprofit that is expected to coordinate housing and job placements, and the students often work in locations where a rural location or seasonal workload makes hiring locally or domestically difficult.
According to Alaska Department of Labor estimates, about 25,000 individuals are hired by the seafood processing industry each year. In 2011 and 2012, approximately 70 percent of the workforce came from outside of Alaska.