Alaska’s seafood industry worked hard again in 2013 to ramp up its message to policymakers, most of whom still tend to overlook the industry’s economic significance to the state and beyond. What is that message?

That “the industry” is made up of thousands of small businesses — the fishing boats that each supports one or several families.

That the seafood companies in coastal towns provide one of the state’s biggest tax bases. Together, fishing and processing provide more jobs in Alaska than oil and gas, mining, tourism and timber combined. Seafood is Alaska’s top export, far exceeding all other natural resources.

Here are some other “news notes” from 2013, in no particular order.

Thousands of tiny red king crab raised at the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center were released into island waters, marking the first time hatchery-raised Alaska crab have been introduced into the wild. Divers will return to the stocking site to see how well they survive.

Read the full story at Anchorage Daily News>>