July 22, 2020 — Most Alaskans are surprised to learn that seafood is by far Alaska’s top export, the source of the state’s largest manufacturing base and its No. 1 private employer.
More surprising is that those facts are not included in the official trade sheet for Alaska provided by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The information on the USTR website, for example, incorrectly claims that petroleum and coal were Alaska’s top exports in 2018. But seafood has been state’s top export by far for decades.
“Seafood comprises over half of Alaska’s annual export value, averaging $3.3 billion annually over the past decade, averaging $5.6 billion from 20170-2018,” reports the Alaska Resource Development Council on its fisheries page.