Saving Seafood

Russia-Alaska seafood trade remains a one-way street benefiting Russia

February 19, 2020 — Lost in the headlines about the hits to seafood sales from the Trump administration’s trade war with China is another international barrier that’s been going on far longer.

In August 2014, Russia placed an embargo on all U.S. food products to retaliate for sanctions the U.S and other Western countries imposed over the invasion of Ukraine. The ban included Alaska seafood, which at the time accounted for more than $61 million in annual sales to Russia, primarily pink salmon roe.

But here’s the bigger hurt: For the nearly six years that the embargo has been in place, no corresponding limits have ever been imposed on Russian seafood coming into the U.S.

At first, Alaska seafood companies and the state’s congressional delegation made some “tit for tat” noise about imposing a ban on Russian seafood. But in fact, the value of Russian imports has grown nearly 70% since 2014 — and it all comes into the U.S. almost entirely duty-free.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Northern Lights: The national seafood nexus

February 6, 2020 — For more than 30 years, Alaska has been the nation’s largest producer of seafood by volume and value. This status continues into a fourth decade, detailed in a recently published report commissioned by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. Focused on the 2017-18 period, the report describes the broad economic impact of the state’s seafood industry on a regional, statewide and national level, in addition to details about global competition, tax revenue generated by the industry, and other special topics.

Over the study period, an estimated 58,700 workers were directly employed annually in the industry with wages totaling $1.7 billion. Approximately 29,400 commercial fishermen participated in Alaska’s fisheries aboard more than 9,000 vessels ranging from small skiffs to large catcher-processors. Trawl, pot, longline, gillnet and seine gear types are the primary harvest methods in Alaska’s fisheries. About 26,000 processing workers were employed across Alaska in 166 shoreside facilities, with other processors active on vessels that harvest and process their catch. About 3,300 individuals worked at salmon hatcheries, managed fisheries, marketed seafood and provided other support services.

In addition to direct employment, additional impacts occur when industry participants purchase goods or services. For example, the welder repairing a gillnet vessel or the truck driver delivering fuel to a processing plant are indirectly supported by the industry. The seafood sector is also credited with impacts associated with local government services supported by seafood-related taxes or purchases in retail stores by processing workers, for example. Including all economic impacts, 37,700 full-time equivalent jobs, $2.1 billion in wages, and $5.6 billion in economic output (a measurement that captures all economic activity) is supported by the industry in Alaska.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Breaking down Alaska seafood’s economic value

January 29, 2020 — Which Alaska region is home to the most fishing boats, and where do most of Alaska’s fishermen live?

Answers to those questions and many others can be found in the annual report Economic Value of Alaska’s Seafood Industry 2020 by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. The report, prepared by the McDowell Group, gives a fishing snapshot by Alaska region, including employment rates and tax revenues, and breaks down the industry’s impacts to the nation and the world.

Here are some highlights:

The seafood industry contributed $5.6 billion in economic output to Alaska’s economy in 2017/2018, including harvesting, processing, and support sectors.

About 58,700 workers were directly employed by Alaska’s seafood industry, earning $1.7 billion in wages annually.

There were 29,400 skippers, active permit owners and crew who fished in Alaska, of which 16,319 (56%) were Alaska residents.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

The Salmon Sisters of Alaska are Fighting for a Healthy, Sustainable Fish Future

January 15, 2020 — The remote Aleutian Islands are a group of 14 large volcanic islands and 55 smaller islands, mostly belonging to the state of Alaska, known for challenging weather and strong winds. But that has never stopped sisters Claire Neaton (pictured at right, above) and Emma Privat (at left), 29 and 28 respectively, from fishing for halibut and salmon in the archipelago’s waters.

Neaton and Privat are commercial fishermen who grew up on an off-the-grid homestead in this remote region. In 2012, the pair founded Salmon Sisters, a seafood and apparel company that is gaining national recognition and helping feed hungry Alaskans via the Give Fish Project. (Like many female fish harvesters, they choose the term fishermen to describe themselves.)

The sisters fish for salmon, cod, and halibut alongside their family members, including their father who still fishes during the summer months. Currently, the family has four boats with crews of up to five people.

Alaska produces more wild seafood than all the other states combined—and its strict conservation practices and pristine marine waters set it apart on the global market, according to a 2017 report by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. The state has written sustainable fishing practices into its constitution, and many entities—fishermen, scientists, conservationists, and government organizations—collaborate to make sure fish are caught by methods that maintain fish stocks and minimize harm to the plants and animals in the marine environment.

Read the full story at Civil Eats

Alaska’s Responsible Fisheries Management certification program may go it alone

October 11, 2019 — The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s board of directors is being asked to consider a range of new topics coming out of the organization’s annual committee meetings, which took place 9 to 10 October.

One of the biggest changes in the organization is the Responsible Fisheries Management program shifting away from the ASMI umbrella and into its own nonprofit foundation in 2020-2021.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

All Hands: Alaska determined to overcome tariff troubles

October 9, 2019 — The theme coming out of Alaska seafood’s annual meeting is — no surprise — tariffs.

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute opened its All Hands On Deck meeting today in Anchorage with annual updates from its program directors, followed by public meetings for species committees and the Responsible Fisheries Management program.

International Program Director Hannah Lindoff opened her update with a slide detailing the current state of U.S./China tariffs.

“This is the most up to date information,” said Lindoff. “But if anyone is on Twitter and something changes, please let me know.”

Although most products in Alaska’s portfolio are exempted from U.S. tariffs on Chinese exports — salmon, pollock and Pacific cod — competition in the global marketplace makes tariffs disadvantageous for any fisheries affected by additional duties.

For example, Alaska contributes 10 to 15 percent of the global supply of red king crab. Russia supplies about 70 percent. Alaska’s red king crab quota is down 12 percent for 2020. Golden king crab and snow crab quotas are up 13 and 23 percent, but the tanner/opilio fishery is shut down for the year.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Alaska seafood industry making plans for China tariff impact

May 13, 2019 — Alaska’s seafood industry is exploring strategies to reduce damage from the Trump administration’s trade dispute with China, officials said.

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute plans to explore how Alaska can enter additional markets to expand the state’s seafood brand, The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Thursday.

The U.S. plans to raise tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports from 10% to 25% Friday.

China is the largest export market and re-processor of Alaska seafood, with about $989 million worth of sales to China in 2017 alone. That is more than 50% of the state’s seafood products, the institute said.

The institute is looking at “both traditional and nontraditional markets” for seafood globally, Executive Director Jeremy Woodrow said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at KTOO

Alaska’s seafood industry by the numbers, plus fish skin’s medical applications and antibiotics in Chilean salmon

May 1, 2019 — Why should every Alaskan budget watcher care about the price of fish?

Because when the price at the docks goes up by just one penny, it means more money for state coffers.

In 2017, for example, the average dock price per pound for all Alaska seafood was 41 cents. If the price had increased to 42 cents, it would have added nearly $2 million more from fisheries landing and business taxes.

That was one of the takeaways in an updated McDowell Group report presented last week at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s spring board meeting. It offers a good snapshot of the industry that spawned Alaska statehood and is now a seafood superpower.

Read the full story at Anchorage Daily News

ASMI requests federal aid to cushion losses in US-China trade war

December 7, 2018 — The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) is crossing its fingers that its request goes through for several million dollars in federal aid to defray costs of the trade war between U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and China.

ASMI, a state-run entity, has requested USD 9 million (EUR 7.9 million) over three years as tariffs threaten to undermine the market for Alaskan seafood in China. The request was submitted to the Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP), a U.S. Department of Agriculture program designed in part to mitigate the adverse effects of tariffs.

The organization has been getting around USD 4.25 (EUR 3.74) million a year in federal aid for over a decade, according to Jeremy Woodrow, ASMI’s communications director and current interim executive director. This new aid money would be on top of that.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute to request state funding boost

November 6, 2018 — Legislative and governor candidates have vowed across the state to further cut Alaska’s budget, but many state departments drafting their budget requests for the coming fiscal year are going in a different direction.

On Friday, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute became the latest state-supported agency to warn that budget cuts have reached their limit and in some places have gone too far.

In an unusual statement, the public-private partnership said it will be requesting $3.75 million more from the state in the coming year.

“There’s only so much you can do to squeeze down on the role and responsibilities of state government, and as far as others, there’s some departments looking at increments … I guess mostly in programs that will pay long-term benefits,” said Mike Navarre, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Commerce, which controls ASMI’s budget.

An “increment,” in the jargon of the state, is a budget increase.

“We used to invest in seafood marketing. We’re looking to do it again,” Navarre said.

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire