Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Federal actions spark new optimism for Alaska’s fishing industry

November 24, 2025 — Fisheries in Alaska are responsible for about 60% of the seafood in the United States, but they have faced significant challenges in recent years, including declining revenues, prices, and margins, according to speakers on “The Future of North Pacific Fisheries” panel at the 2025 Maritime Industry Economic Forecast Breakfast, held Friday during the Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle.

“My agency produced a snapshot report last year, looking at economic impacts across Alaska fisheries and confirming declining revenue and prices and increasing costs with declining margins,” said John Kurland, Regional Administrator for NOAA’s Alaska Regional Office. “Revenues dropped by about $1.8 billion in 2022 and ’23. It hasn’t gotten a whole lot better since.”

All is not doom and gloom, however. The panelists struck a more upbeat tone when speaking about the future. For many across the sector, President Trump’s Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness executive order — issued in April — has given reason for optimism.

NOAA is working with other parts of the federal government and non-government groups to meet the goals of the executive order: “Things like considering regulatory changes to simplify and streamline regulations where we can increase flexibility where possible, looking at advanced technologies to improve data collection, to try to introduce cost efficiencies and hopefully make it more timely to get data into the management process, and updating national seafood trade strategy to try to address global trade dynamics and level of playing field,” Kurland said.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

17 Industry Groups Ask Congress to Fund North Pacific Fisheries Surveys at No Less Than $15M

May 16, 2024 — A letter from 17 industry leaders to Senators Patty Murray of Washington and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska urged Congress to “prioritize immediate and long-term funding” for the annual surveys of core commercial fisheries populations in the North Pacific done by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC).

The May 10 letter was based on an earlier letter from the Freezer Longline Coalition (FLC), a trade association representing the owners of 19 longline vessels that target Pacific cod, urging the senators to bolster the survey program with funding and a strategic plan.

FLC’s executive director Chad See noted in his April 25 letter how essential collection of data is to support the sustainable management of North Pacific species, which provide “60% of all seafood harvested in the U.S. each year, directly support nearly 50,000 jobs and contribute nearly $16 billion to the U.S. economy.”

Just as annual surveys give scientists core data over a long term, missing or delaying surveys may leave scientists in the dark on anomalies that impact a species’ health. The cancellation of surveys during Covid meant managers were unaware of a continued, catastrophic drop in Bering Sea snow crab abundance. The head’s up they would have gotten in 2019 was not fully realized until 2021, delaying measures to recover the stock and contributing to unintentionally high catch limits.

“Stock data aside, North Pacific surveys also generate a wealth of other data that is helping NMFS scientists and fisheries stakeholders to better understand the impacts of climate change in the region and to anticipate potential management changes and other actions to support the continued sustainability of the fisheries, the marine ecosystem and the fishermen and communities that rely on the resource,” FLC’s See wrote in the April letter. “Perhaps more than anywhere else, the Arctic region within which the North Pacific lies is experiencing first-hand the impacts of a changing climate.”

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com