Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Southeast economy heats up: NOAA ship arrives in Ketchikan as federal contracts fuel shipyard growth

October 5, 2026 — The NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson has arrived at the Ketchikan Shipyard for a major modernization project, bringing a $95.4 million federal contract with it. Employment at the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority-owned facility is expected to approach 200 workers by the end of the year.

Operated by JAG Ketchikan LLC, the shipyard is building a growing portfolio of federal vessel work. The Oscar Dyson project, awarded to JAG Alaska Inc. in June 2025, follows a separate $99.6 million NOAA contract for modernization of the research vessel Henry B. Bigelow, announced by AIDEA in June.

The two contracts represent approximately $195 million in federal vessel modernization work, supporting demand for skilled trades, engineering, electrical, mechanical and fabrication expertise in Southeast Alaska.

According to AIDEA, the Oscar Dyson arrived the day before JAG hosted a shipyard tour for attendees of the 2026 Southeast Conference. Regional civic, business and economic development leaders were able to see the vessel and the facilities supporting the shipyard’s expanding workload.

“The arrival of NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson is another visible sign that the Ketchikan Shipyard is building momentum and competing for important federal maritime work,” said AIDEA Executive Director Randy Ruaro.

“The partnership between AIDEA and JAG at the Ketchikan Shipyard has been incredibly successful in a very short time since JAG took over operations,’ he said. “This is exactly the kind of activity AIDEA has worked to support — more vessels, more skilled jobs and more long-term opportunity for Southeast Alaska.”

The Oscar Dyson contract runs through Dec. 5, 2027. NOAA expects the vessel to return for the 2028 field season after a yearlong maintenance period following its 2026 research season.

Commissioned in 2005, the ship collects data used to manage Alaska pollock, one of the world’s largest commercial fisheries.

The overhaul includes replacing the propulsion system with variable-speed Tier 4 generators, installing quieter air-conditioning motors, and replacing pumps, fans, cranes, fire detection equipment and radars. The project will also increase the number of single-person staterooms. NOAA says the improvements will strengthen fuel efficiency, operational safety and the vessel’s ability to support research in Alaskan and Arctic waters.

Read the full article at The Alaska Story

Seafood industry seeks new value in fish parts

January 15, 2018 — State seafood marketers are rebranding fish parts as “specialty” products and mapping a path for millions more dollars in sales.

Alaska’s fisheries produce more than 5 billion pounds of seafood each year. When all the fish is headed and gutted or filleted and all the crab legs are clustered, it leaves about 3 billion pounds of trimmings. Some is turned into meal and oil, but for the most part, the “gurry” is ground up and discharged into local waterways.

“Whether that’s heads or guts, milt, or meal or oil or something else, it should be held in high regard,” said Andy Wink, a seafood economist formerly with the McDowell Group. “These are products that are out of our normal range but they are specialty items serving niche markets.”

A new Analyses of Specialty Alaska Seafood Products report compiled for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute takes a look at uses for fish heads, oil, meal, internal organs, crab products, roe, herring fillets, arrowtooth flounder, spiny dogfish and skates.

It makes the point that Alaska’s combined seafood catches, valued at roughly $2 billion at the docks and twice that when processors sell to their buyers, could be worth an additional $700 million or more if so called “specialty” products were added to the mix.

Take fish heads, for example. Alaska produces about 1 billion pounds of fish heads per year, which likely account for most of the processing waste, the report said. Just 1 percent is sold as frozen heads, although a single large salmon head can fetch up to $5 a pound at Beijing supermarkets, according to previous reports. Increasing the frozen market alone could add $100 million to processors’ sales, the report said.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News