NOAA Snapshot Charts Alaska Seafood Industry Losses, Points to Reasons

The economists working on the Seafood Snapshot found that, beginning in 2022, the industry saw higher costs due to increased wages, higher energy prices, and higher interest rates. At the same time, prices for every major species group were declining.

In addition, retail and consumer seafood purchasing habits changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. When restaurants and schools reopened, demand for seafood outside of home declined, saddling retailers with high-priced inventory and lower demand. That led to a shift: seafood kept in cold storage reduced the need for a fresh supply. As a result, processors, producers, and wholesalers had fewer buyers. According to the snapshot, retail seafood prices have softened in 2024 but not by enough to bring back consumer demand.

Meanwhile, international competition has stiffened. According to the snapshot, several Russian fisheries have earned Marine Stewardship Council certification and now use the species name “Alaska pollock” in marketing, resulting in sustainable Alaska fisheries having less of an edge in the global market. Foreign sources have lower labor and operating costs, which further erodes the competitive edge.

Coupled with international trade barriers, a strengthening US dollar, inflation (which drives down consumer demand for more expensive seafood products), declines in seafood processing jobs and plant closures, and lack of revenue insurance (such as farmers have under the US Department of Agriculture for crop failures), the bottom line of the NOAA snapshot is grim. Vessel revenues (payments for fish delivered directly from fishing vessels) declined by 32 percent from 2022 to 2023, for a loss of $617 million. First wholesale market values, or the value of seafood sold after it’s off the fishing vessel, dropped by $1.2 billion.

Some regions were already enduring decades of ecological and economic challenges. In the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, the number of active commercial fishing vessels declined by 29 percent between 2003 and 2023, and the number of active seafood processors declined by 32 percent. In the Gulf of Alaska, the decline was less but still dramatic: 20 percent fewer fishing vessels and 7 percent fewer processors.

Finally, climate impacts are causing changes. A marine heatwave in 2017-2018 led to a crash of the lucrative snow crab fishery in 2022, and it coincided with Bristol Bay red king crab fishery closures between 2021 and 2023. It devastated the Bering Sea crab fleet and, the snapshot states, was particularly difficult for Saint Paul in the Pribilof Islands, which lost 60 percent of its community budget.

A Path Forward

NOAA Fisheries is hopeful about finding a way back to a thriving industry. The agency is implementing the National Seafood Strategy, a five-year plan to bolster the seafood economy and enhance its resilience. It plans to use the National Seafood Strategy Implementation Plan, released in September, to reach those goals.

“This snapshot is an example of the type of research we intend to advance through this national effort,” says Michael Rubino, NOAA Fisheries’ senior advisor for seafood strategy. “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.”

Among the actions in the implementation plan are assessments of the effects of climate change, implementation of climate science regional action plans, grant funds for projects to sustain fishing habitats and infrastructure, promoting aquaculture production, fostering access to domestic and global markets, and combating illegal and harmful fishing practices.

The State of Alaska also recently set up a Joint Legislative Task Force to Evaluate Alaska’s Seafood Industry. The task force’s report is expected in January. NOAA Fisheries recently presented findings from the economic snapshot in a task force meeting and will continue to support its efforts.