Written by Scott Blake
Updated: 47 minutes ago, Published: 1 hour ago
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My journey began with a deep-seated fear. The fear of watching a livelihood passed down to generations of commercial fishermen slip through my fingers. Thirty years ago, I was a young Copper River fisherman caught in the middle of a market crash. Farmed salmon had just entered the United States, and the price of wild Alaskan salmon was skyrocketing. As a young fisherman, I was truly proud of the salmon I caught, but this change turned my world upside down. In that moment, I made a pivotal decision. Together with three other fishermen, he founded Copper River Seafoods to fight for the premium market Alaska salmon deserves.
Spoiler alert: It's been 30 years and we're still fighting every day to compete. With experience, I found that my competition exceeds other seafood. Beef, chicken, and other proteins occupy the “heart of the plate.” The burdens I carry today, in the face of market crises, conflicts, recessions, political turmoil, and economic challenges, reflect the burdens I carried in my 20s, but those challenges are now more profound. It's getting bigger and more complex. Nevertheless, his 30 years of operating a business here in Alaska have left me confident in our company's abilities and prepared to meet the new challenges we face today.
Our commitment to growth and service to Alaska continues. You may think it has nothing to do with us, but we probably spend years at our processing facility and cold storage warehouse in Anchorage supplying seafood to restaurants and grocery stores in Alaska, directly or indirectly. Throughout operations, hundreds of years of round jobs such as service, delivery, and construction. At its peak, the company directly employs nearly 700 people, providing service and support to commercial fishermen throughout southcentral, southwestern and northern Alaska.
The latest data supports this, with the industry directly employing more workers than any other private industry in the state. This means more than 48,000 workers will be offered jobs, earning a total annual labor income of $1.81 billion. These jobs can be found throughout the state, from the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands to Bristol Bay. Fisheries activities also create synergies that ripple throughout Alaska's economy, including jobs, sectors, and regions not directly related to seafood. Collectively, this industry is responsible for $6 billion in economic output in Alaska each year. This applies not only to harvesting and processing, but also to all the other sectors that make commercial fishing possible and, in turn, exist thanks to fishing.
It's hard not to appreciate the economic value of this industry, but it's about more than that. As a business owner and year-round resident, I appreciate everything the seafood industry does for our state, including the tax revenue it generates. In 2022, the industry paid approximately $161 million in taxes, fees, and self-assessments to fund fisheries management. One quarter of the taxes and fees paid remain in local communities, while half is donated to the state for the benefit of all Alaskans.
The contributions that our company and the seafood industry as a whole make to Alaska are significant in terms of taxes, jobs and economic value. Most important to me is maintaining and supporting generations of fishing families, including my sons who are now commercial fishing license holders.
Challenges will continue, but the efforts of thousands of industry members to evolve, reinvent and support commercial fishing livelihoods will pave a new path for future generations of fish and fishermen. Helpful. At Copper River Seafoods, we must continue to adapt and change to survive, but we remain true to our fishermen, our mission to harness the power of the Copper River, and to sell the best food in the world. will continue to be.
Scott Blake, a fourth-generation Cordova fisherman and CEO of Copper River Seafoods, also lives in Anchorage, Alaska. Copper River Seafoods operates a year-round processing facility and cold storage in Anchorage, as well as primary processing facilities located throughout Alaska in Cordova, Naknek and Togiak.
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