Alaska Seafood Numbers On The Upswing After Covid-Related Hits

Interesting financial numbers from the latest Alaska Seafood Industry report for January 2022. Here are a few snippets from the report, specifically the impact that the Covid pandemic had on the industry:

Alaska’s fishing industry is resilient. Most years, a weak season for one species is offset by a strong year for another. But in 2020 the industry suffered both from widespread COVID-19 impacts and from biological factors in several key fisheries. Impacts varied widely by fishery, but the following key themes are evident.

Participation Down Steeply in All Sectors in 2020

Participation by Alaska commercial fishermen dropped 12% for permit holders and 28% for crew in 2020 compared to the prior year – a decline of 1,058 skippers and 6,555 crewmembers, respectively. Peak processing employment declined 21% (a drop of 4,290 employees), as companies struggled to fill positions and reconfigured operations to increase social distancing.

COVID-19 Contributed to Widespread Revenue Declines

Ex-vessel value declined 27% from $2 billion in 2019 to $1.5 billion in 2020, with impacts felt across every major species group. First wholesale value declined slightly less at 21% – representing roughly a billion dollars in reduced revenue to processors.

These value declines were due to both lower salmon returns unrelated to the virus and covid-related price declines due to stalled demand from the foodservice sector as restaurants were closed. Production value was also impacted in some cases by a shift to lower value product forms due to the inability to fully staff processing plants.

Substantial Costs to Keep Employees and Communities Safe

In 2020, processors spent an estimated $70+ million in COVID mitigation costs, primarily on charter travel, quarantine facilities, security, and COVID screening and testing. Mitigation costs to harvesters are not as well quantified, but were also significant along with impacts to fishing schedules and other consequences.

Government aid helped offset COVID-19 mitigation costs and revenue declines to some. While funds flowed quickly to communities, distribution to industry was less efficient, with a patchwork of programs, a lack of programs for processors, and gaps in access.

As for the critical fishery at Bristol Bay, the report focused on 2019 in the year before the pandemic wreaked havoc with the fishing industry, just as it did in so many professional sectors:

Commercial fisheries in the Bristol Bay region directly employ 15,900 people and generate $322 million in labor income.

The 2019 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon harvest totaled 225 million pounds with a total ex-vessel value of $343 million.

In 2019, Bristol Bay accounted for 26% of the Alaska salmon harvest in terms of pounds landed and 48% of the state’s harvest in terms of total ex-vessel value.

The region typically accounts for more than half the world’s sockeye harvest, and is the largest wild sockeye salmon run in the world.

Bristol Bay fishermen have invested millions of dollars to improve fish quality through onboard chilling systems. Over the last decade, salmon deliveries chilled by refrigerated sea water or slush ice have increased from 45% to 94%.

Here’s more on the report from KDLL radio:

But the industry is still struggling with problems brought on and exacerbated by COVID-19, like supply chain issues and mitigation costs. That’s according to a new report from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, the state’s seafood marketing arm.

“Our industry is still facing a lot of the challenges it faced both at the start of the pandemic in 2020 and even before that,” said Ashley Heimbigner, communications director for the institute.