Innovation drives Alaska seafood industry

By Kati Capozzi

At this year’s Alaska Resources Conference, Westward Fishing Company President Greg Baker provided an overview on Alaska’s seafood industry, a sector that produces enviable statistics that make this flourishing renewable resource one, that if continued to be managed properly, will successfully continue well into the future.

Baker began the presentation by outlining some seafood industry facts. The fishing industry continues to be Alaska’s largest private sector employer, with over 80,000 direct and indirect seasonal and full-time jobs. It also accounts for 60 percent of the United States’ commercial seafood harvest.

Another topic Baker addressed is the hot button issue of sustainability, and what the word ‘sustainable’ really means.

“It’s a word that gets used a lot, we see it all of the time in the media,” Baker said. “It’s one of those words that can mean whatever you want it to mean in the moment,” Baker added. “And when it comes to resource management it can be misused a little bit.

But in our case, it’s a term that works very well,” Baker pointed out, referencing Alaska’s world recognized model of sustainability.

Baker emphasized this by showing a slide using the total biomass of the groundfish fishery in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands and the self-imposed total allowable catch that the industry set for itself over 30 years ago. Baker indicated that while there have been many years that industry could have safely caught more fish, they continue to follow the conservative cap set in the 1970s.

The self-management standard of fisheries in the U.S. is a “model of the way to manage resources. The government has established the broad parameters that fit the public needs, but they leave it to industry to figure out the most effective way to harvest those resources,” said Baker.

Innovation continues to positively impact the seafood industry in many ways. Reducing unintended bycatch is important to anyone sharing the fishery resource in Alaska and the innovative progress being made to assist in that effort is constantly ongoing. Excluder nets, which reduce unintended salmon bycatch by 40 to 60 percent, are one example. Another industry driven innovation is the real time reporting of bycatch. Boats will send in their data with numbers of intended fish caught as well as unintended to a co-operative and, if necessary, will then disseminate that information to their fleet, indicating the exact location of an area that they need to avoid due to high bycatch numbers. This contractual and efficient management system enables fleets to quickly move to or from areas that will be most beneficial to them as well protecting all resources within Alaska’s fishery.

Baker noted Alaska’s seafood industry has been blessed with sound resources, the fish continue to be managed conservatively to ensure ongoing sustainability, and that bycatch is continually being monitored and improved upon.

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