November 3, 2014 — Alaska claimed the nation’s top three fishing ports for seafood catches last year, and wild salmon landings — 95 percent from Alaska — topped 1 billion pounds, an all-time record and a 70 percent increase from 2012.
That’s according to the annual Fisheries of the U.S. report for 2013, just released by NOAA Fisheries.
Dutch Harbor topped the list for landings for the 17th year running with 753 million pounds of fish crossing the docks last year, valued at nearly $200 million. The Aleutian Islands region ranked second for landings, thanks to the big Trident plant at Akutan; Kodiak ranked third for both seafood landings and value.
For the 14th year in a row, New Bedford, Massachusetts, had the highest valued catch at $380 million. That’s due mostly to pricey sea scallops, which accounted for more than 80 percent of New Bedford’s 130 million pound landings.
In all, 14 Alaska ports made the top 50 list: the Alaska Peninsula (8), Cordova (9), Ketchikan (10), Sitka (15), Petersburg (16), Seward (20), Naknek (21), Valdez (24), Bristol Bay (26), Kenai (38) and Juneau (41). Most ports showed huge increases in fish landings and values, meaning a nice return in local and state tax dollars.
Overall, fishermen were paid less for their catches. The average dock price for salmon (all species) was 67 cents a pound, down a nickel from 2012. For halibut, the average price of $3.89 was a drop of 58 cents. (All but 76,000 pounds of the nation’s halibut came from the Pacific fishery.) The average king crab price of $5.37/lb was a decrease of 18 cents.
While U.S. fishermen landed about the same amount of fish and shellfish last year — 10 billion pounds — the value of $5.5 billion was a $400 million increase from 2012.
Read the full story at the Alaska Dispatch News