Want to know where most fishermen live in Alaska? Or what community is home to the most fishing boats?
United Fishermen of Alaska has just released its updated Fishing Facts for every region of Alaska, plus the West Coast. The facts are updated through 2018, the most complete year available.
At a glance, they show that nearly 8,700 permit holders fished in 2018; 6,055 were Alaska residents. Over 21,341 crew licenses were purchased, split almost evenly between residents and non-residents.
Permit holders live in every state except West Virginia.
Alaska’s seafood industry employed nearly 59,000 direct jobs, more than any other private sector. Over $172 million in fishing taxes were collected, of which $73 million went to state coffers and $51 million to local governments.
Homer is home to 615 fishing boats and nearly 20% of its population fishes, earning $69 million in 2018.
A total of 636 vessels call Kodiak Island home and over 1,074 residents fish there, or 17.3% of the population, who earned $105 million at the docks. Kodiak lays claim to 15 processing facilities, from ‘mom and pops’ to majors.
At Petersburg, nearly 24% of the population fishes for a living on 620 home-ported boats. Their income is pegged at $50.5 million.
Only 9 permit holders fished out of Dutch Harbor/Unalaska but its 8 big processing plants helped generate $8.2 million in fishery taxes both to the region and the state.
The state of Washington continues to be the biggest beneficiary of Alaska’s fisheries. Over 6,047 Washington residents plus crew fished in Alaska in 2018.
Of Alaska’s total harvest of roughly 5.7 billion pounds, 4 billion pounds went to Washington residents. And of the total dockside value of $1.94 billion, Washingtonians pocketed $900 million.
The Fishing Facts also include fishing income by region, the number of processing plants plus processing jobs and wages, fishery tax revenues to the state and local communities and legislative districts for each district.
UFA is the nation’s largest fisheries trade group, representing 35 member groups of all sizes.
