Seafood is the top private sector employer in Alaska. The Alaska fishing industry saw a 50% decline in profitability from 2021-2023, according to NOAA Fisheries.
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The Alaska seafood industry has endured significant economic losses, amounting to $1.8 billion, between 2022 and 2023, according to a recent economic snapshot from NOAA Fisheries.
The NOAA report, Alaska Seafood Snapshot, also underscores the broader social and economic impacts of the downturn, extending beyond Alaska to affect communities across the United States.
The analysis, led by NOAA Fisheries economists and social scientists, found that Alaska’s seafood industry - a key component of the U.S. seafood sector - experienced a 50% decline in profitability from 2021 to 2023. This economic downturn contributed to the loss of over 38,000 jobs nationwide and a $4.3 billion decline in total U.S. output. The hardest-hit states, including Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California, collectively saw a loss of $191 million in state and local tax revenues.
“The Alaska seafood industry is a major contributor to the U.S. seafood sector,” explained Robert Foy, director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in a NOAA news release. “The social and economic ramifications of Alaska’s losses have reverberated down the West Coast and across the country.”
The independent analysis was requested by members of the Alaskan seafood industry, NOAA said: "They wanted to see the data behind the pinch that fishermen, seafood workers, and communities were feeling," the organization states.
The snapshot draws on data compiled from fishing boats, processors, and international trade databases for both state and federal fisheries in Alaska, in addition to interviews conducted by NOAA researchers with industry participants, fishing associations, members of dependent businesses, and Alaska community members, and information from published sources.
The NOAA report highlights several contributing factors to the industry’s losses in 2023. Rising operational costs, including increased wages, higher energy prices, and elevated interest rates, squeezed profits starting in 2022. Revenue then further declined in 2023 as prices dropped across all major species groups.
In the wake of the pandemic, changing consumer behaviour also impacted the seafood market, the analysis finds. As restaurants and schools reopened, demand for at-home seafood consumption declined, leaving retailers with high-priced inventory and diminishing demand. Many retailers now opt to manage supply by gradually releasing products from cold storage, leading to reduced seafood orders from Alaska, NOAA points out.
"This practice lowered the seafood supply in the market and kept prices higher, allowing retailers to stay afloat. But it also meant seafood producers, processors, and wholesalers in Alaska demanded a lower quantity of seafood," NOAA says. "Retail seafood prices have softened somewhat in 2024, but not by enough to entice consumers to purchase the volumes they bought in 2020–2021."
International competition has also exacerbated these challenges. Russian fisheries, for example, have entered the market with Marine Stewardship Council certification, marketing their products as “Alaska pollock". The lower labour and environmental costs abroad have enabled these competitors to outpace Alaskan producers, the NOAA analysis finds.
Other factors, including international trade barriers, a strong U.S. dollar, and inflation, have further eroded the competitiveness of Alaskan seafood, the report finds.
The decline in Alaska’s fisheries extends beyond economics, as fisheries are deeply embedded in the cultural and social fabric of many coastal communities - another key aspect of the economic downturn covered by the NOAA analysts.
“Commercial fisheries have flourished in Alaska for generations, shaping social structures, cultural identity, and robust local economies," said Steve Kasperski, lead economist on the NOAA report. "Beyond the economic impacts, the decline of fisheries in the region threatens a way of life, sense of place, community, and identity.”
The downturn has led to a 32% drop in vessel revenues, equating to $617 million, and a 26% decrease in first wholesale values, totaling $1.2 billion. Additionally, the number of active commercial fishing vessels and seafood processors in Alaska’s primary fishing regions - the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and the Gulf of Alaska - has steadily declined over the past two decades, according to NOAA.
Another key factor taking a toll on Alaska’s seafood industry is climate change. NOAA highlights the significant impact of a marine heatwave in 2017–2018, which resulted in the 2022 crash of the snow crab fishery and coincided with closure of the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery from 2021 to 2023.
"This was devastating to the Bering Sea crab fleet and, in particular, the community of St. Paul. This island community in the middle of the Bering Sea depends on a large on-island seafood processing facility. The closures led to a 60 percent loss in its community budget. This deeply impacted this small community, from its leadership down to its citizens and families," NOAA said.
In order to promote resilience in the US seafood sector, NOAA Fisheries has recently launched the National Seafood Strategy Implementation Plan, aiming to provide ongoing economic and environmental data to help communities and industry stakeholders navigate such challenges, NOAA said.
“This snapshot is an example of the type of research we intend to advance through this national effort,” said Dr. Michael Rubino, NOAA Fisheries’ Senior Advisor for Seafood Strategy.
“With climate change, resource managers, fishermen, and other interest groups need timely social and economic data so they can understand and respond to challenges like we are now facing in the Alaska seafood industry.”
