November 10, 2026 — Alaska’s commercial fishing industry recorded its largest increase in seafood harvesting employment in more than a decade in 2025, reversing five consecutive years of job losses as stronger salmon harvests, recovering crab fisheries, and increased groundfish activity helped bring more fishermen back to work.
According to the November 2026 edition of Alaska Economic Trends, published by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, seafood harvesting employment increased 4 percent in 2025, adding an average of 216 jobs per month compared with 2024.
The increase marked a turnaround for an industry that had lost approximately 2,300 jobs since 2019, with harvesting employment reaching its lowest level on record in 2024. Despite the improvement, the state’s commercial fishing workforce remains considerably smaller than it was a decade ago.
State economist Joshua Warren, who authored the report, told KUCB that the industry’s prolonged decline was driven partly by the COVID-19 pandemic, along with fishery closures and reduced catch limits.
“Other industries saw some level of return once COVID measures stopped, but those trends just seemed to continue for seafood harvesting,” Warren said.
Closures of major Bering Sea crab fisheries, including snow crab and red king crab, contributed to the losses. However, some fisheries reopened in 2025, and stronger salmon production helped support the industry’s recovery.
“And we had a good salmon year, so there wasn’t a negative pressure that would cause things to continue to decrease,” Warren said.