The November Alaska Economic Trends showed Bristol Bay fishing jobs up 10 percent in 2013 season, despite flat August growth.
Although salmon job growth in the Bristol Bay 2013 season remained flat, job growth during the fishing season grew throughout the state. KDLG’sThea Card reports.
The November edition of the Alaska Economic Trends had some good news about the fishing industry.
“The entire state has seen numbers higher than it has seen in a long time. You have to go back to 2000 to see a number that is higher for average annual monthly employment.”
This is economist at the Alaska Department of Labor and author of the report Josh Warren. He says the biggest growth was seen in salmon industry even with Bristol Bay not having a stellar August.
“So Bristol Bay actually saw record growth in June and July and if they would have had more August fishing they would have seen probably the highest growth in the state.”
The report states the salmon job count was stable because of the harvesting season and landings meshing with calendar months. Even with August employment being down half in 2013 what it was in 2012, salmon generates 98 percent of the region’s harvesting jobs.
Warren says based on the data from the past five years, he’s cautiously optimistic about future fishing seasons.
“I would be optimistic for continued growth in Bristol Bay but the salmon and all the species fisheries in the state can be really dependent on the biology. So if the fish just don’t show up as much or the price is a lot different from year to year, there’s a lot of effects that can change a trend in the fishing industry. But since we’ve seen growth from year to year I’m pretty optimistic that it will keep growing.”
Bristol Bay was Alaska’s fourth biggest employer in the fishing industry during the 2013 season.