A new report estimates that Bristol Bay, Alaska’s salmon fishery generated more than USD 2.2 billion (EUR 1.9 billion) in economic benefits during the banner 2019 season.
The Bristol Bay Defense Fund commissioned the McKinley Research Group to complete the report, which took into account subsistence fishing and sport fishing, along with the commercial sockeye salmon fishery in Bristol Bay. The 2019 figure is up significantly from similar reports in the past, which have put the total value around USD 1.5 billion (EUR 1.3 billion).
The commercial salmon fishery made up the bulk of the total value, with an output of USD 2 billion (EUR 1.7 billion) within the United States, where it generated around USD 830 million (EUR 700 million) in labor income. Around 8,500 harvesters caught an average of 218 million fish from 2015 to 2019, the report said, for an annual value to harvesters of USD 263 million (EUR 220 million). In 2019, a strong ex-vessel price at around USD 1.35 (EUR 1.13) per pound combined with a catch of around 45 million fish – the second-largest haul in the fishery’s history – for a value of USD 372 million (EUR 312 million) to harvesters.
The fishery employs around 6,000 seasonal workers that processed a five-year average of 137 million pounds of salmon worth an average of USD 540 million (EUR 453 million) annually. The 2019 catch accounted for a record high of nearly USD 710 million (EUR 596 million) in value.
Bristol Bay’s 2019 season provided over half the ex-vessel value for salmon statewide, as sockeye salmon runs in the bay continued on a torrid run, while salmon fisheries statewide lagged. According to the report, the total economic impact within the state of Alaska for 2019 was USD 990 million (EUR 831 million), with USD 375 million (EUR 315 million) in labor income.
Beyond the fishermen and processors, the reports said knock-on impacts were also felt throughout the state.
“Bristol Bay salmon supports thousands of jobs in the support business sector … from air service operators to diesel mechanics to net builders to expediters,” the report said.
Much of this indirect and induced impact was felt in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, where ports, processing facilities, and shipyards, among other things, employ some 1,930 people who take in around USD 85 million (EUR 71 million) related to the Bristol Bay salmon fishery. The total value collected by entities in Washington and Oregon originating from Bristol Bay salmon averages around USD 210 million (EUR 176 million) annually.
Bristol Bay’s subsistence fishery also provided over 500,000 pounds of fish to the area’s households in 2017, with more than 750 residents reporting harvests.
“The subsistence salmon harvest is critical to the health of well-being of communities in the region, to individual and community identities, and to cultural connectedness and continuity,” the report said.
Photo courtesy of Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association
