December 1, 2025 — Alaska’s commercial fishing industry, facing lower prices for its harvest and rising costs, saw a loss of 443 harvesting jobs in 2024—a fifth straight year of employment loss, state labor officials said.
That 7.6% job decline was similar to the previous year’s 7.8% job loss, the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development noted in the November issue of Alaska Economic Trends.
Seafood harvesting in Alaska has lost over a third of its total jobs in the past decade, with fishing employment down every year of the last 10 except for 2019. That includes the summer peak, which has fallen about 30%, from 24,600 jobs in July 2014 to 17,400 in July 2024.
While most other Alaska industries bounced back after big job declines during the Covid-19 pandemic, seafood harvesting continues to struggle as the industry faces unpredictable runs, the volatility of climate change, seafood processing plant closures and sales, and disrupted fisheries.
International trade is also shifting, with China now purchasing more fish from Vietnam than from the United States.
Labor Department economist Joshua Warren said that how tariffs will affect these relationships isn’t clear, but they will likely put additional pressure on prices as domestic harvesters compete with countries that have more favorable trade deals.