Bristol Bay's commercial salmon fishery valued at $2 billion
UNITED STATES
Monday, April 19, 2021, 01:00 (GMT + 9)
The following is an excerpt from an article published by KDLG.org:
A recent study by the McKinley Research Group estimates that Bristol Bay’s commercial salmon industry generated $2 billion in economic benefit and an average of 15,000 jobs in 2019. The 57-page study was published in February by “Bristol Bay Defense Fund,” a coalition of regional Tribes, businesses and conservation groups that support permanent federal protections at the region's headwaters.
Photo: McKinley Research Group
The new report, called “The Economic Benefits of Bristol Bay Salmon," bridges a three year gap in analyzing the value of the region's salmon industry.Rebecca Braun is with McKinley Research Group and worked on the new report.
“The most recent time was published in 2018," said Rebecca Braun, who is with McKinley Research Group and worked on the new report. "It mostly relied on 2016 data cause of a lag. This group was interested in updating the numbers and expanding what we looked at and we were kind of excited about that too.”
Braun, with others, gathered data from 10 different sources including the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the state Department of Revenue and NOAA fisheries.
She and a team of others calculated that Bristol Bay’s commercial fishery was valued at $2 billion and supported 15,000 jobs in 2019 -- according to the latest data available. That’s nearly double what consultants evaluated it at in the prior report.
Photo: McKinley Research Group
The coalition that published the report, Bristol Bay Defense Fund, says the study’s findings support their call for permanent federal protections at the regions’ headwaters from mining projects like Pebble Mine. Katherine Carscallen represents Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay. She commercial fishes and lives in Dillingham.(continues...)
Author: Tyler Thompson /KDLG.org | Read the full article by clicking the link here
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