 Alaska seafood industry highlights from 2008 By LAINE WELCH January 06, 2009
Here is a sampler of some seafood industry highlights from 2008, in no particular order or priority, followed by my annual picks and pans of fish stories - High fuel prices that topped $5 per gallon idled 20 percent of Kodiak's trawl fleet, along with hundreds of local seafood workers. Salmon boats stayed out between fishing openers, hurting coastal economies. A petition starting at Petersburg gathered thousands of fishing signatures asking Congress for a tax break from high fuel prices, to no avail. New data from the state Dept. of Labor revealed the average age of Alaska commercial fishermen was 47; nearly 40 percent were non-residents. Every month 7,260 fishermen were out on the water plying their trade. That number jumps to 20,137 per month at the peak of salmon season. Add in processing, transportation, management and support services, it adds up to at least 54,000 jobs a month. Nearly half of the state's fishery biologists continued to drift away due to retirement - or lured by federal pay checks ranging from 35%-80% higher. The University of Alaska added a Bachelor of Arts in fisheries to its line up, the fourth in its fisheries degree programs. Nearly 40 percent of University graduates go to work for Fish and Game or federal agencies in Alaska. Sweet Potatoes and Wild Alaska salmon baby food was launched by Beech-Nut Corp. The baby food uses pink salmon from Ocean Beauty Seafoods West Coast salmon fisheries were cancelled, and Chinook catches in Southeast Alaska were cut by half to just 170,000 fish. The Bush Administration opened the door for oil/gas lease sales in a nearly 6 million-acre "fish basket" that encompasses most of the southeastern Bering Sea and Bristol Bay. The United Fishermen of Alaska, the nation's largest fishing trade group, declared fishing rights should also be considered as 'property rights' in any lease sales. The Bush Administration also sidestepped Congress and gave the nod to the first offshore fish farms that will make use of existing oil and gas platforms. Bush also pushed for watered down environmental and endangered species protections. Fishing retained the dubious distinction as America's most dangerous occupation, with on the job death rates 36 times greater than all other occupations. Surprisingly, the Pacific Dungeness crab fishery ranked as the deadliest catch, with 17 deaths in the past seven years. That's 50 percent higher than Bering Sea crabbers. Bering Sea king crab base prices increased to $5/lb, up from $4.19 last year. For The 2007/08 king and Tanner crab fisheries had a landing value of $202 million. Meanwhile, disenfranchised crab crews continued efforts to obtain their rightful shares of the crab quotas. Each American ate 16.3 pounds
of seafood, a figure that is expected to drop as cash strapped
Americans cut back on dining out. The National Restaurant Association
said Americans spent 48 percent of their food budget eating out
nearly six times each week. Alaska's seafood message of sustainability and food safety trumped concerns over 'food miles' and 'carbon footprints' among global buyers. Trendy new lunch entrees made from Alaska pollock got 'kid approved' at schools in Fairbanks and Kenai. Salmon wraps by Taco Loco of Anchorage also scored big with school kids. Bristol Bay fishermen and Peter Pan Seafood expanded their salmon give-away to more schools and senior centers in Western Alaska. Halibut prices continued to hover near or above $5/lb at major ports. Early estimates peg the dockside value for halibut at $175 million, an increase of $3 million from 2007. For sablefish (black cod), the value was $69 million, up $7 million from last year. Five candidates hoping to snag Alaska's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives debated fish issues at Kodiak's ComFish. Rep. Don Young went on to win the election. The U.S. became the first country in the world to approve foods from cloned animals. Bio-engineered Atlantic salmon can grow up to 600 times faster than normal, and are ready for market in 18 months instead of the usual three years. The FDA says since foods from cloned animals pose no significant health risks, they need not be labeled. Halibut harvesters faced reduced
catches stemming from a new way of counting the fish. Exxon finally started cutting checks to 32,000 oil spill plaintiffs, after a 19 year wait. The U.S. Supreme Court reduced the punitive damages award from $2.5 billion to $507 million. Exxon is appealing interest payments of roughly $500 million - that decision will come sometime this year. Plaintiffs got a bit of a tax break thanks to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who championed a bill through Congress to allow income averaging and one time retirement contributions for those receiving Exxon payments. Alaska's fortunes could be fueled by another kind of oil boom - omega 3 oils from salmon and other seafoods are the biggest buzz in the by-products world. Omega 3 fatty acids have become one of the most popular food additives due to a whole host of health benefits -they were added to 250 food products from eggs to orange juice, and the list is growing. Sen. Murkowski also went to
bat for small fishing boats to exempt them from strict new federal
water discharge rules that would have required permits for even
hosing off the deck. Seven fish stocks were removed from the U.S. overfishing list, and none were added. No fisheries in Alaska waters were on the list. Fish managers at Bristol Bay got an earful after the sockeye run arrived late and all at once, overwhelming processing capacity. Idled fishermen estimated the plug cost them three million fish, bringing the Bay harvest to a lower than projected 28 million reds. Marine debris clean up efforts in Alaska reached a milestone - one million pounds of debris was removed from coastlines since 2003 in efforts spearheaded by the Juneau-based Marine Conservation Alliance. That's equivalent to four 747 cargo planes full of nets, plastics and other trash. Alaska pollock catches were cut nearly in half to 815,000 metric tons, while a new pulse of fish readies to recruit into the fishery in a year or two. Alaska's statewide salmon harvest of 146 million fish was a decrease of 31.4% from 2007 - still, it was the 16th largest catch since statehood in 1959. And although the value of the catch was down, it topped $400 million at the docks for the second consecutive year. The National Organic Standards Board gave the 'organic' nod to wild-caught forage fish used as feeds for farmed fish and livestock. Wild-caught fish for humans did not make the 'organic' grade. Fishing groups, Alaska natives
and concerned citizens joined in a lawsuit to stop discharges
of pollutants into Cook Inlet. The case challenges the Environmental
Protection Agency for issuing a permit that will almost triple
the amount of oil and gas discharges each year. 2008 Fish Picks & Pans
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