A 2020 study conducted by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) and the research firm McDowell Group showed both employment and investments growing for seafood statewide.

The study showed state's seafood industry employs nearly 60,000 workers annually in Alaska, and contributes $2.1 billion (€1.9 billion) of labor income, second only to oil and gas among private sector industries.

Here are the study's key points:

  • Approximately 5.7 billion pounds of seafood worth $2. billion (€1.8 billion) was harvested annually in 2017 through 2018, and processors turned this harvest into product worth $4.7 billion (€4.2 billion)
  • The Alaska seafood industry employs over 16,300 resident fishermen, 7,300 resident processors, and 6,600 fishing vessels are resident-owned.
  • Seafood is the state’s largest international export by volume and value, and is the largest manufacturing sector in Alaska. The sector includes 166 shore-based plants, 49 catcher-processors, 10 floating processors, and various other participants. Seafood accounted for 70 percent of the state’s manufacturing employment in 2018 with nearly 26,000 workers.
  • Alaska harvests more wild-caught seafood than all other states combined
  • Nationally, the Alaska seafood industry creates over 100,000 full time equivalent jobs, $5.6 billion (€5 billion) in annual labor income and $13.9 billion (€12.5 billion) in economic output.
  • The state exports more than 2.2 billion pounds of seafood annually, returning over $3.2 billion (€2.9 billion) of new money into the US economy each year.
  • Seven of the 10 largest shoreside processors invested a total of over $100 million (€89.7 million) per year in capital expenditure from 2012 to 2016.
  • An average of 68 newly-built fishing boats were added to the fleet annually over the 2013-2018 period, representing an average investment of more than $50 million (€44.8 million) per year.