30 ALASKA RESOURCE REVIEW FALL 2024 Many factors faced are outside of Alaska’s ability to control BY TIM BRADNER THE ISSUES BEDEVILING ALASKA’S SEAFOOD INDUSTRY SHOW NO SIGNS OF ABATING. BUT THERE ARE SOME SIGNS OF OPTIMISM IN THE RECOVERY OF FISHERIES THAT HAVE BEEN DEPRESSED. Markets, however, are another story. But as long as Alaska sticks to its science-based fisheries management practices, the basic resource can be sustained. Eventually, markets will recover but the hit to Alaska’s economy from all of the problems is now estimated at $1.8 billion in the last year, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Some crab fisheries show signs of recovery and Alaska’s important sockeye and pink salmon fisheries appear stable, although there are issues in some areas. The big Bering Sea pollock fishery also appears stable, although the pollock harvest in the Gulf of Alaska has been cut due to an unusual incident of king salmon bycatch that forced fisheries managers to curtail harvesting. Scientists believe ocean conditions affected by climate change are at the root of problems in many of Alaska’s fisheries. What’s important, however, is that state and federal managers have tools to manage these difficulties and have done so, although the remedy can be painful for many Alaskans, said Douglas Vincent-Lang, Alaska’s Commissioner of Fish and Game. “We are seeing the impacts of changing ocean conditions and climate on our fishery resources. The result is some species winning while others are losing,” Vincent-Lang wrote in a lengthy analysis prepared for the new Joint Legislative Seafood Task Force, which met recently. “Sockeye salmon, pollock and cod seem to be benefiting from current conditions while species such as king salmon, king crab and coho salmon are not,” he wrote. The challenges to fishery managers, and harvesters, get more complicated with fisheries managed under limited-entry and rationalization, Vincent-Lang wrote. SEAFOOD INDUSTRY SEES CONTINUED CHALLENGES Adverse markets and changing ocean conditions challenge Alaska’s fisheries.
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