Commercial fishermen in the North Pacific earned more than
$1.9 billion from their commercial harvest of 5.3 billion pounds in 2011, with
salmon valued at $565 million dominating landings revenue, a new federal
fisheries report says.
The total also includes pollock valued at $363 million; crab
worth $249 million, and Pacific cod valued at $210 million, according to
Fisheries Economics of the United States 2011.
Alaska’s seafood industry alone generated $4.7 billion in
sales impacts, $2 billion in income impacts, and more than 63,000 jobs in 2011.
Seafood processing and dealer operations contributed 26
percent to in-state sales for Alaskan businesses, with more than $1.2 billion
generated in 2011. The commercial harvester sector generated more impacts than
any other sector with approximately 70 percent of total impacts. The importer
sector consisted of less than one percent of the total impacts for the state
for that year.
Landings revenue for finfish and shellfish totaled more than
$1.9 billion, a 126 percent increase from total revenue generated in 2002. When
adjusting for inflation, real landings revenue increased 57 percent. Landings
revenue in 2011 was a 21 percent increase relative to 2010 revenue of $1.6
billion.
Finfish and other catch contributed more than shellfish to
the 2011 total, accounting for 86 percent or $1.6 billion. This was a 136
percent increase from 2002 finfish revenue totals. Similarly, shellfish
revenues increased 79 percent from $146 million in 2002 to $263 million in
2011. The largest change in landings revenue between 2002 and 2011 were for
Atka mackerel, an 831 percent increase; salmon, a 335 percent increase, and
flatfish, a 178 percent increase.
The report, published annually on a two-year lag to allow
for data collection, analysis and peer review, is the work of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
It provides economic statistics on US commercial and
recreational fisheries and marine-related businesses for each coastal state and
the nation.
Key to the report are the economic effects – jobs, sales,
income and value added to the gross national product- of the commercial and
recreational fishing industries. Economic impact measures how sales in each
sector ripple through the state and national economy as each dollar spent
generates additional sales by other firms and consumers.
Collectively commercial and recreational saltwater fishing
generated more than $199 billion in sales and supported 1.7 million in the nation’s
economy in 2011.
The report is online at http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/economics/publications/feus/fisheries_economics_2011
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