Press Release: UFA Publishes 2015 Edition of Alaska Community Fishing Fact Sheets, Introduces Seafood Industry Taxes & Fees

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For Immediate Release: March 5, 2015
Contact Julianne Curry, Executive Director
 (907) 586-2820 office; (907) 957-4747 cell 

The statewide commercial fishing umbrella association United Fishermen of Alaska has released its updated set of seafood industry data sheets for major Alaska communities and boroughs. UFA is seeking to provide groups, members and the public with economic information about the seafood industry to illustrate the industry’s significance in their communities and throughout the state. New with this year’s edition are summary fact sheets for the Nome and Wade Hampton Census Areas, a sheet for Oregon and California, and a new compilation of seafood industry taxes and fees paid to the state, boroughs, communities and federal agencies.

“Alaska’s seafood industry brings millions to the state in fishing and processing revenues and employs thousands of Alaskans in the major fishing ports every year, including communities such as Anchorage”, said UFA President Jerry McCune. “We are pleased to once again provide our Alaska statewide fact sheet that details out the importance of the seafood industry to the state”, said Executive Director Julianne Curry. “We have also produced a brand new tax and fee sheet that points out the $250 million in taxes and fees paid by the seafood industry on an annual basis. Due to the wide range of state and federal agencies involved in fisheries, it is challenging to understand the many different positive impacts and revenues that Alaska’s fisheries provide throughout the state and beyond. UFA’s fact sheets help consolidate this information and make it easy to understand.”

The community profiles include Aleutians East Borough, Aleutians West Census Area, Anchorage, Bethel Census Area, Bristol Bay Borough, Cordova, Dillingham Census Area, Dutch Harbor-Unalaska, Haines Borough, Homer, Juneau, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Kenai, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Lake and Peninsula Borough, Matanuska – Susitna Borough, Nome Census Area, Petersburg, Prince of Wales – Outer Ketchikan Census Area, Seward, Sitka, Skagway – Angoon – Hoonah Census Area, Valdez, Wade Hampton Census Area, Wrangell, Yakutat, and the Yukon Koyukuk Census Area. Additional sheets have been compiled for Washington State and a combined sheet for Oregon & California – the states that are ranked #1, 2 and 3 for non resident fishermen and crew in Alaska fisheries.

The fact sheets can be found on the UFA website at https://www.ufafish.org/fishing-facts/.

UFA represents 36 Alaska commercial fishing associations from fisheries throughout the state and federal offshore waters, and can be found online at www.ufafish.org.

Additional information on data sources used by UFA for the Fishing Fact Sheets: 

Due to common confusion and varying numbers available among the numerous agencies and organizations that gather and report on fisheries, UFA has used state and federal government sources and has footnoted each statistic with online sources. Commercial fishing permit activity, estimated earnings by permit holders, and vessel homeports are from AK Commercial Fishery Entry Commission (CFEC). Crew numbers have been obtained from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game 2012 Crew license list, and is the number of purchasers of full year crew licenses who list their address in a given city. 2013 population estimates used to calculate percentage of resident skippers and crew who fished is from the Alaska DCCED Alaska community information online database. Processor employment and wages data is from the Alaska Department of Labor. Revenue figures are from 2012 Alaska Dept of Revenue Shared Taxes Report. National rank and NOAA total landings and value for selected ports are from the NOAA Fisheries Office of Science & Technology.

The list of taxes and fees has an additional four pages with sources for the revenues quoted.