VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 4 | FALL 2025
SEAFOOD INDUSTRY SEES SIGNS OF RECOVERY
Celebrating Alaska’s Legacy in Mining, Oil & Gas, Fisheries, Tourism, and Forestry
Fisheries insiders point to bright spots within past year's outlook BY TIM BRADNER IT HAS BEEN A MIXED BAG FOR ALASKA SEAFOOD PRODUCERS DURING THE PAST YEAR. The industry is gradually recovering from market-based issues but costs are still high, a hangover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Bristol Bay processors and har- vesters generally did well this year and an encouraging sign was that fish were bigger than last year by about a half a pound over- all, according to industry sources. That’s good because salmon are sold by weight, not by fish, so larger fish put more money in harvesters’ and processors’ pock- ets. Bristol Bay sockeye harvests have been high in recent years but the fish were small- er, industry insiders said. Salmon prices in Bristol Bay were ac- ceptable, harvesters said, but the full story will come later this year when processors announce postseason adjustments to pay- ments. That happens when fish are actually sold, and there is a difference between the sale price in the market and what was paid to harvesters early in the season, based on estimates of the final sales price. An official “posting,” or notice, was Silver Bay’s an- nouncement earlier this season that it would buy sockeye in Bristol Bay at $1.30 per pound including a quality-handling bonus. The sockeye (red) run in Cook Inlet was good, as was the coho (silver) run. That was welcome news for sportfishing in Southcentral. However, pink salmon in Southeast Alaska were down. Pink salmon are an important fishery for that region. For the region, this was partially offset by chum salmon catch, also important to the region, that was considered acceptable. Meanwhile, processors and some har- vesters depend on other fisheries to smooth out the ups and downs in salmon, the ma-
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jor summer fishery. Halibut is part of the industry’s diversification strategy, but this year the Pacific and Alaska halibut biomass is still down. This poses challenges because fisheries managers set catch limits based on the es- timated biomass. Higher prices offset some of the sting of lower harvests, but this leads to consumer resistance. Other species in the state’s diverse fish- eries portfolio such as sablefish, also known as black cod, appeared to do well. This is a fish previously exported almost exclusively to Japan but is now becoming popular in domestic markets. A lot of this is credited to new products developed and promoted by Alaska processors. For example, Alaskan Leader Seafoods’ Miso Marinated Black Cod being sold through Costco has become highly popular and by itself has resulted in a 2,000% in- crease in black cod domestic U.S. sales. Trident Seafoods is also active in new product development such as with a new pet food product line. Trident has been making changes to its business structure in Alaska, reducing the number of its primary Alaska processing facilities after selling off plants. Trident’s new Unalaska plant is on hold but
the company continues to operate at Aku- tan, a big processing facility in the Aleutians. In the big offshore ground fisheries, pollock harvests in the Bering Sea are at ex- pected levels but “bycatch” problems with herring have caused some slowdown, re- ducing efficiency and raising costs. When fishing vessels experience high levels of by- catch, or the accidental catching of fish oth- er than the target species — in this case pol- lock — the pace of fishing must be slowed to reduce the bycatch. A bright spot for the Alaska pollock in- dustry is that Russian pollock is now com- pletely out of the U.S. domestic market. This is a result of former President Biden’s tightening of import bans on Russian sea- food due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For a period, Russian producers were able to evade U.S. restrictions by exporting raw product to China for processing so they could be “re-exported” to the United States. China, instead of Russia, could then be list- ed as the country origin. Initiatives from the Alaska congressio- nal delegation and particularly U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan resulted in President Biden closing this loophole for Russia in evading the U.S. restrictions.
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ALASKA RESOURCE REVIEW FALL 2025
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