Graying Of The Fleet

[FWS]

Fisheries jobs, graying fleet trend increase

Laine Welch
Bristol Bay Times
November 30th

The "graying of the fleet" continues in Alaska as fewer young folks obtain permits for various fisheries.

Data from 2011 show that 45 percent of all Alaska permit holders were between the ages 45 and 60, with an average age of 47. That was roughly twice as many permit holders as there were between the ages of 30 and 44. Crewmembers were much younger, averaging around 21 years old. There also was a higher incidence of crewmembers in their mid-30s, dropping off in the older age range. This may be due in part to aging crew eventually purchasing their own permits.

Those are just a few of the findings by the state Department of Labor in its November issue of Economic Trends, which focuses on Alaska fishing and processing jobs. The harvesting sector also continued to grow, with the salmon and groundfish sectors each adding more than 200 jobs last year, while halibut, crab, and herring fisheries all had drops in employment.

Overall, the seafood industry provides more jobs in Alaska than the oil/gas, mining, timber and tourism industries combined.

A breakdown shows that roughly 10,000 permit holders went fishing last year, along with more than 22,000 crewmembers. Salmon represents more than half of the total fishing jobs, and over 60 percent of Alaska's total harvesting employment takes place from June through August. The salmon sector averaged more than 16,000 jobs a month during those months, 80 percent of the total summer harvesting employment.

Three gear types accounted for almost 60 percent of total harvesting jobs in the state in 2011: longliners, gillnetters and set netters.

In terms of gender, 85 percent of the fish harvesters last year were men. Of that, 7,253 were permit holders, or 23.9 percent. Male crew totaled 18,678, or 61.6 percent. Just over 1,100 women held fishing permits, or 3.7 percent. Women crew numbers topped 3,200, or 10.8 percent of Alaska's fishing jobs.

Alaska remains the nation's leaders for value of fisheries at nearly $2 billion of the $5.3 billion U.S. total. The Economic Trends report also includes analyses of seafood processing, fishermen's other jobs and a focus on the Aleutians West region. Find the full report at: labor.alaska.gov/trends/nov11.pdf.