March 9, 2021 — It’s likely that no other fishing regions of the world reach out for stakeholder input as much as Alaska does to gather policy-shaping ground truth by state and federal managers and organizations.
That’s demonstrated by two new surveys – one which aims to quantify how much Alaska fishermen and processors paid out over the past year to lessen COVID impacts and how much relief they got from government programs, the other to learn what technology needs are tops with harvesters.
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is collecting information not available elsewhere on the pandemic impacts.
Processors are being asked about financial losses due to COVID mitigation efforts, plant closures and employment changes, as well as their expectations for costs and employment levels in 2021, explained Jenna Dickinson, a consultant with the McKinley Research Group who is working with ASMI on the project. Processor costs include but are not limited to charter flights and hotel put-ups for worker quarantines, plant modifications, medical and testing supplies and related services.
Many fishermen also paid for similar coverages for their crews.