SeaBank Report Reveals Southeast Alaska Ecoystems Generate $1 Billion Via Fisheries, Tourism

The following press release is courtesy of the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust:

New report shows Southeast Alaska’s ecosystems yield $1 billion per year in fisheries and tourism activity

[Sitka AK] — November 19, 2024 – In its newly-released 2024 SeaBank Annual Report, the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) announces that marine and terrestrial ecosystems in Southeast Alaska contribute $1 billion per year to regional economies, providing critical jobs and resources to over 72,000 people in 33 communities. “We can look at Southeast Alaska as a bank of forest and sea,” says ASFT board member Linda Behnken, “one that supports the entirety of our collective economic, social, cultural, and physical well-being. If we steward this natural bank wisely, we can continue receiving its enormous dividends in perpetuity.”

The SeaBank Annual Report is a 267-page advocacy tool written by ASFT natural resources attorney Paul Olson. Based on extensive yearly research involving over 2,700 references, this report combines the latest economic figures, public data from state and federal management agencies, and emerging science to demonstrate the value of Southeast Alaska ecosystems and the services they provide human communities. These “ecosystem services” include livelihoods in fishing and tourism, healthy food and clean drinking water, protection from extreme weather events, Indigenous culture, recreation and exercise, and spiritual renewal. On a planetary scale, Southeast forests and wetlands provide globally-significant carbon sequestration that mitigates climate change.

Olson, who also fishes commercially for salmon in Southeast, explains why it’s crucial for policymakers and citizens to access the kind of information offered by the SeaBank Annual Report. “Thanks to abundant rainfall and the cooling effect of glaciers, Southeast Alaska is a climate refuge, a buffer against the impacts of planetary warming and a stronghold for vulnerable species like salmon and large conifers,” he says, “but it will only continue to function robustly if we protect its underlying ecosystems.” The SeaBank Report offers useful data on the value of these ecosystem, threats such as industrial logging, trawling, and mining, and protections that can help maintain local and global benefits.

Each year, ASFT publishes a new edition of the SeaBank Annual Report to quantify the contributions of the Southeast ecosystem—the SeaBank—to “shareholders” who benefit from its richness.  In 2024, these contributions included $1 billion in annual economic dividends from fisheries and tourism to Southeast communities and 16,500 jobs; $5.3 billion in ecosystem services such as marine nurseries and wetland buffers from SeaBank’s 350,000 acres of estuaries, and 2.7 billion metric tons of carbon sequestered in the SeaBank forest. More ecosystems services are listed in the report.

The SeaBank Annual Report is written for policymakers, lawmakers, educators, and private citizens seeking advocacy tools that make a vital case for ecosystem preservation in Southeast Alaska. The report is available at http://thealaskatrust.org/seabankreport. Readers are invited to contact ASFT for guidance on using this data-driven tool for ecosystem advocacy at the local, state, and federal level.

For those interested in a narrative approach to the SeaBank, ASFT announces the SeaBank Chronicles podcast, immersive 7-minute episodes that place listeners inside the science and mystery of Southeast Alaska’s coastal rainforest ecosystem. “This is a science-education soundscape,” says producer Beth Short-Rhoads, “a cross between radio theater and an ecology lesson that delivers both facts and a rich audio experience.” The SeaBank Chronicles can be heard at: https://thealaskatrust.org/seabankchroniclespodcast or wherever podcasts are available.

For media inquiries or to schedule an interview, please contact:

About Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust
The Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust strengthens fishing communities and marine resources through research, education, and economic opportunity.