report<\/a> has found.<\/p>\n\u201cAlaska lost seafood harvesting jobs for a fifth straight year in 2024, bringing the industry to its lowest job count since data collection began in 2001,\u201d according to the November report in Alaska Economic Trends.<\/p>\n
The drop in employment extends statewide and across multiple fisheries including salmon, herring, black cod and other species. <\/p>\n
Harvesting jobs in the huge pollock industry are down as well, but that\u2019s related in part to increased efficiency, the report says. <\/p>\n
A little more than a decade ago, the number of fishing jobs in Alaska reached record-high levels in July, hitting about 25,000. <\/p>\n
But in the years since, they\u2019ve sunk more than 30%, to a little more than 17,000 in 2024. <\/p>\n
The number of fishing jobs fell by close to 450 in 2024, a drop of 7.6% from the year before, the second-straight year for such a decline, the report said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still a very big part of Alaska\u2019s economy, but it has been seeing a decrease for quite a few many years,\u201d said Joshua Warren, the report author and an economist for the state.<\/p>\n
Still, it\u2019s a significant part of the state\u2019s economy, he said in an interview Tuesday. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of optimistic outlook, but it still employs over 17,000 in the summer,\u201d Warren said. <\/p>\n
The report does not look at seafood processing jobs, only harvesting jobs, he said. <\/p>\n
A raft of problems<\/p>\n
The biggest declines in fishing jobs occurred during the pandemic that began in 2020. <\/p>\n
But the sector has not recovered, unlike many others across Alaska.<\/p>\n
Fishermen face a swarm of obstacles, the report says. <\/p>\n
Rising costs are deterring permit holders as profitability falls, the report says. Rising costs are also dissuading new entrants. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe number of permit holders fishing has steadily declined since 2019,\u201d the report says. <\/p>\n
That has compounded job losses, leaving entire crews without work, the report says. <\/p>\n
The U.S. has been losing global fisheries market share for several years, the report says. <\/p>\n
\u201cCountries such as Russia, which have lower costs, have flooded the international market with competitively priced products,\u201d the report says. \u201cSeafood prices have been on a three-year slide, especially for high-value catches such as chinook salmon.\u201d <\/p>\n
International trade is shifting and China now buys more fish from Vietnam than from the U.S., the report says. <\/p>\n
The report doesn\u2019t factor in the Trump administration\u2019s tariffs that began in mid-2025. <\/p>\n
But it points out that they may not help. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow the tariffs will affect these relationships isn\u2019t clear, but they will likely put additional pressure on prices as U.S. harvesters compete with countries that have more favorable trade deals,\u201d the report says. <\/p>\n
Fishermen also face unpredictable runs, disrupted fisheries and the volatility of climate change, the report says. <\/p>\n
Closures of seafood processing plants and fisheries are another problem. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, the Bering Sea crab fisheries closed in 2022 and 2023 after stocks crashed 90 percent, then reopened in 2024 but with greatly reduced catch limits,\u201d the report says. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnother example is Yukon Delta salmon, which bottomed out this decade, eliminating those jobs,\u201d it says. \u201cThe fish still have not returned in sufficient numbers, even for subsistence fishing.\u201d<\/p>\n
An array of fisheries affected<\/p>\n
Salmon fisheries were once the most valuable part of the industry, based on the catch value. <\/p>\n
Now they\u2019re second to groundfish, a category that includes mostly pollock. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/4SY2STB7SNGVRHZDXJJPTZN3J4.jpg\")
Alaska pollock lie on the deck of the factory trawler Northern Hawk on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023 in the Bering Sea. (Loren Holmes \/ ADN) <\/p>\n
Dramatically lower harvests for salmon \u201cin recent years pulled its value down to second place in 2023, where it remained in 2024,\u201d the report says. <\/p>\n
Salmon fishing is so labor intensive that it drives overall employment in the industry. <\/p>\n
But salmon fishing employment dropped 8% last year to record lows below 15,000 jobs, during peak summer employment. That\u2019s a 31% dive over a decade. <\/p>\n
Groundfish harvesting dropped to a record low of 664 jobs in 2024, a loss of 11% from the previous year, the report says. <\/p>\n
Groundfish harvesting jobs have dropped sharply over a decade. <\/p>\n
\u201cEmployment declines were due in part to large harvesters becoming more efficient, needing fewer jobs to bring in the same catch,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n
Fishing jobs for black cod or sablefish \u2014 a type of groundfish tracked separately because of its large workforce \u2014 fell by 9.3% last year, or 41 jobs. <\/p>\n
Jobs for herring fishing, which typically occurs in Southeast Alaska, also dropped sharply over the last decade. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe April 2024 count was the lowest on record at just 294 jobs, down from more than 600 in April 2022,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n
Crab harvesting jobs have also plunged over the decade. But that sector was the rare bright spot in 2024, showing slight improvement from the year before. <\/p>\n
Crab fisheries added 17 jobs over the year \u2014 just over 5% growth, the report found. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Bering Sea and Kodiak limits or closures had dragged on crab harvesting over the previous few years, 2024 showed signs of recovery,\u201d the report says. \u201cBering Sea crab fisheries were closed in 2022 and 2023 after a 90 percent drop in biomass. They reopened in 2024, albeit with a drastically reduced catch limit, after stocks recovered somewhat.\u201d <\/p>\n
A domino effect in Bristol Bay <\/p>\n
The decline in fishing jobs extended across Alaska, though some regions weren\u2019t as hard-hit as others. <\/p>\n
In Southcentral Alaska, seafood harvesting jobs dropped by a relatively low 3.5%, or 39 jobs, amid a recovery in fishing for some species such as shellfish and herring, the report said. <\/p>\n
While salmon runs have struggled elsewhere, Bristol Bay in Southwest Alaska has been home to big runs in recent years. <\/p>\n
But salmon fishing jobs in the region dropped by 400 last year, with fewer setnet and driftnet permits, the report says. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/4MZBO7P5ENEBTA2I74C3YLEOYM.jpg\")
Crew bleed and store salmon aboard the driftnet fishing boat Twin Tuition in the Naknek-Kvichak district near Naknek on Monday, July 11, 2022 in Bristol Bay. (Loren Holmes \/ ADN) <\/p>\n
That marked a 7.4% drop last year, a rate similar to the previous year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe number of Bristol Bay permits fished in 2024 was more than 100 below 2023, with harvesters likely dissuaded by low salmon prices and declines or closures of other fisheries,\u201d the report says. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past, some harvesters with permits for other areas and species have fished on their way to Bristol Bay, but it appears fewer decided to make the trip last year,\u201d the report says. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The King Cove-based commercial fishing seiner Dominion anchors in a calm cove on the night before an opening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[146075,192,146076,146077,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-273710","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-commercial-fishing","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-king-cove","11":"tag-peter-pan-seafoods","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/YFJUUS5HPBDETPYGOFB2SFWN7I.JPG\")
The King Cove-based commercial fishing seiner Dominion anchors in a calm cove on the night before an opening on July 5, 2024. (Marc Lester \/ ADN)
<\/p>\n