Fisheries in Alaska are responsible for about 60% of the seafood in the United States, but they have faced significant challenges in recent years, including declining revenues, prices, and margins, according to speakers on “The Future of North Pacific Fisheries” panel at the 2025 Maritime Industry Economic Forecast Breakfast, held Friday during the Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle.

“My agency produced a snapshot report last year, looking at economic impacts across Alaska fisheries and confirming declining revenue and prices and increasing costs with declining margins,” said John Kurland, Regional Administrator for NOAA’s Alaska Regional Office. “Revenues dropped by about $1.8 billion in 2022 and ’23. It hasn't gotten a whole lot better since.”

Kurland cited stiff global competition, seafood pricing, residual effects from the Covid-19 pandemic, and climate change as strains on the commercial fisheries.

High costs, particularly for labor and energy in remote areas, have weighed on many parts of the industry, especially processors, said Julie Decker, president of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association. “Costs have skyrocketed,” Decker said. “Labor costs are driven by a federal government policy to tie H-2B visas to a required prevailing wage. The federal government determines that wage and sets that wage. In two years, it went up 50% between 2021 and 2023, and that’s really difficult when it’s one of your largest costs to absorb.”

In addition, depressed stocks and changing environmental conditions continue to impact several species, including king, snow, and Bairdi crab in the Bering Sea – typically among Alaska’s most valuable fisheries.

“In recent years, our fisheries collapsed in the Bering Sea, so we were down [from 55 vessels] to 35 active vessels,” said Jamie Goen, executive director at Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers and a member of the North Pacific Management Council. “We lost $250 million a year with the closure of our fisheries, but we are bouncing back.”

 Goen noted that the outlook for the future has brightened, but that “for crab, one of the biggest challenges has been keeping stocks sustainable. . . This affects not only the harvesters and the processors, but all the way up through the supply chains.”

Craig Morris, chief executive officer of the Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers, said shifts in global trade flows have negatively impacted U.S. harvesters fishing for Pacific pollock, the majority of which is exported. “Our competitors in Russia like to use our name on the global market,” he said. “Russia has become very aggressive in their ability to not only produce our product, but sell it at a very low price. We’ve seen very challenging global market conditions for our fish for the last couple of years.”

BRIGHTER FUTURE

All is not doom and gloom, however. The panelists struck a more upbeat tone when speaking about the future. For many across the sector, President Trump’s Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness executive order — issued in April — has given reason for optimism.

NOAA is working with other parts of the federal government and non-government groups to meet the goals of the executive order: “Things like considering regulatory changes to simplify and streamline regulations where we can increase flexibility where possible, looking at advanced technologies to improve data collection, to try to introduce cost efficiencies and hopefully make it more timely to get data into the management process, and updating national seafood trade strategy to try to address global trade dynamics and level of playing field,” Kurland said.

The agency is synthesizing feedback it received from regional fishery management councils, the seafood industry, and other stakeholders, including through a Federal Register notice, to determine the priorities, Kurland said. In Alaska, NOAA has been working closely with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to develop a work plan for concrete, specific actions.

“The intent is, of course, to try to improve access, improve economic profitability, reduce burdens on industry where we can, but within the context of sustainable fisheries,” Kurland said. “It doesn’t mean taking all the rules away and fishing like crazy. It’s all about maintaining that framework for sustainable fisheries, but trying to streamline things and improve things where we can.”

“The executive order is really important for us,” said Morris, noting that pollock prices are strong but that rising costs have hurt profitability. “We operate in the global marketplace. And when we have to compete with countries who use forced labor, who are racking up what we view as unsustainable levels of debt, who have state-sponsored innovation initiatives to modernize their fleets, it’s hard for us to compete.”

Decker said she’s encouraged that several policy issues that gained momentum during the Biden administration have continued to advance under the Trump administration. “It just goes to show that people recognize the value of the domestic seafood industry, and they’re willing to look deep into how they can help us and level the playing field for trade.”