Did we get what we deserve? (Fairbanks, Kodiak: sales, home, layoffs)

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by GnomadAK

When I lived there, the squandered opportunites drove me crazy, and the reasons that the opportunities were squandered made me realize that in the end, Alaska may be the first state in the nation to lose statehood. There could have been a gas line, salmon farming, the Pebble mine, so much time and money lost. The forces that created the inertia, the paralysis by analysis, the roadblocks, will end up at each others throats in the end. Fishing, the remaining mining and reality TV will never be able to support 800,000 people, not even half of that.

I believe it's going to end badly, and nobody deserves that.

Why on Earth would Alaska need salmon farming? We just had the biggest salmon year on record. Open-net farming doesn't exactly provide a lot of jobs, btw. As for the Pebble project, I'm not sure that another foreign-owned mine that probably would have employed more Outsiders than Alaskans would have done much for the economy.

Some places just weren't meant to support large populations of humans. The population exploded with the original pipeline and it'll decrease accordingly. I don't think there's much chance that Alaska will lose statehood; not sure where that's coming from.

[GnomadAK]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Why on Earth would Alaska need salmon farming? We just had the biggest salmon year on record.

Year around fresh Alaska salmon maybe? I'll take a nice fresh Chilean salmon over a frozen AK fish.

And that's exactly the sort of attitude I was talking about. Sport fishing guides vs commercial fisherman, the net value to the economy of a sport fish is a helluve lot higher higher than a set net fish. Different groups all want to duke it out until there are no winners.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by AADAD

Very informative post. Alaska has an opportunity to place it's faith and economy into alternative power and without judgement or prejudice it is the energy source which comes around every year. Abundant sunshine which can be stored and enormous chances for wind power in the Matanuska valley and the coast. It's an opportunity which other countries have faced and to a degree succeeded, and lets face it Alaska is like it's own country (thank goodness). Oil is politically charged and while it may be available there is much more behind Shell's decision to abandon it's stated goals in the Chukchi. They are taking their drills and their trucks and their employees somewhere else.

For everyones sake I hope that Juneau has the foresight to shift from the despair to the future. Schools to train and retrain workers to set up renewable power sources across the state. If they have not done this already, they had better get busy. All the signals are saying ITS TIME.

Solar power has been tried for many years in Alaska, specially in the interior, and hasn't gotten anywhere commercially because of the long period of darkness, and expense. Wind power is not reliable at all around Fairbanks, because often we don't have winds for weeks at a time, but it has been tried by Delta Junction and gone nowhere.

The problem with commercial fishing is that most of the money goes out of Alaska, since the fishing fleets and investors aren't from here. Tourism is the same. Some money is made from commercial fishing, but that's a drop in the bucket (budget) compared to oil:
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm...ses.pr10162015

That leaves, oil, and mining (including coal mining).

PS: I agree with Met about fish farming; that's a bad idea for Alaska.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by GnomadAK

Year around fresh Alaska salmon maybe? I'll take a nice fresh Chilean salmon over a frozen AK fish.

And that's exactly the sort of attitude I was talking about. Sport fishing guides vs commercial fisherman, the net value to the economy of a sport fish is a helluve lot higher higher than a set net fish. Different groups all want to duke it out until there are no winners.

Gnome, open-net farmed fish wouldn't fly with our consumers; Alaska has a reputation for the best wild seafood in the word. And I'll take a nice flash-frozen wild Alaska salmon over a farmed piece of Chilean crap any day, and so would most of our customers. People who know food know that flash freezing is the next best thing to fresh. It's certainly better than "fresh" Chilean salmon that's over a week old by the time it hits U.S. markets.

The farmed salmon market is already at capacity, btw. For the most part, those who eat wild salmon and those who eat farmed salmon are two different consumer groups. There's been a glut of farmed salmon on the market for years. Salmon farming would be a financially losing prospect in Alaska.

I don't know what "attitude" you're talking about, but it's clear you know little about the Alaska seafood industry. Enjoy your farmed Chilean salmon.

Here's a little food for thought:

Addicted to antibiotics, Chile's salmon flops at Costco, grocers | Reuters

The coastal waters of Chile, the world's second-largest producer of salmon, are awash with a bacteria known as SRS, or Piscirickettsiosis. The bacteria causes lesions and haemorrhaging in infected fish, and swells their kidneys and spleens, eventually killing them.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

Solar power has been tried for many years in Alaska, specially in the interior, and hasn't gotten anywhere commercially because of the long period of darkness, and expense. Wind power is not reliable at all around Fairbanks, because often we don't have winds for weeks at a time, but it has been tried by Delta Junction and gone nowhere.

The problem with commercial fishing is that most of the money goes out of Alaska, since the fishing fleets and investors aren't from here. Tourism is the same. Some money is made from commercial fishing, but that's a drop in the bucket (budget) compared to oil:
2015 Salmon Harvest, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

That leaves, oil, and mining (including coal mining).

PS: I agree with Met about fish farming; that's a bad idea for Alaska.

Pacific fishing never was state-specific, but there are plenty of Alaska-owned seiners on the panhandle. But no, fishing is never going to sustain the entirety of Alaska's population; it was never meant to. As far as the fish processing plants, they can't get enough Alaskan workers, never could.

I think a lot of people see the huge tourism activity and assume that Alaskans are cleaning up on it, but most of that money leaves the state, especially the cruise ship money.

[RayinAK]

I don't know enough about the fishing industry to figure what Alaska should do about it, but can only wonder why our State leaders haven't shifted the industry mainly to benefit Alaskans instead of investors outside of Alaska. I see no reasons for not having modern Alaska-owned salmon-canning operations taking place, not only in the coastal areas of Alaska, but right in the interior. I am not talking just about canning, but all aspects: smoking, grinding and turning to patties, modern packaging that advertises the uniqueness of the Alaska product, distributing to supermarkets and other stores, and so on. There is no reasons for not having such local industries.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Pacific fishing never was state-specific, but there are plenty of Alaska-owned seiners on the panhandle. But no, fishing is never going to sustain the entirety of Alaska's population; it was never meant to. As far a the fish processing plants, they can't get enough Alaskan workers, never could.

I think a lot of people see the huge tourism activity and assume that Alaskans are cleaning up on it, but most of that money leaves the state, especially the cruise ship money.

You know a lot more than me about the fishing business

Yes, those big tour companies aren't from Alaska.

By the way, earlier this summer I bought a 4-can pack of salmon over at the Riverboat Discovery store as a present to my niece, and paid around $60.00. This salmon is sold to tourists or anybody else, and most people buy it to give as presents to others in the lower-48, etc. The packaging is quite nice, and the product is delicious.

I can my own, but it would be nice to have several places like that owned by Alaskans:
https://store.riverboatdiscovery.com...?CategoryID=44

[Music_Man]

We have salmon flavored vodka, what more do you want? |

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by music_man

we have salmon flavored vodka, what more do you want? |

I was reading about it on the News Miner a few months ago. I think I will pass

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

I don't know enough about the fishing industry to figure what Alaska should do about it, but can only wonder why our State leaders haven't shifted the industry mainly to benefit Alaskans instead of investors outside of Alaska. I see no reasons for not having modern Alaska-owned salmon-canning operations taking place, not only in the coastal areas of Alaska, but right in the interior. I am not talking just about canning, but all aspects: smoking, grinding and turning to patties, modern packaging that advertises the uniqueness of the Alaska product, distributing to supermarkets and other stores, and so on. There is no reasons for not having such local industries.

There is absolutely nothing from stopping anyone from opening those types of businesses anywhere in the state. Personally, I wouldn't work fish in the interior because the distance from the fishing grounds is going to result in second-and-third tier products, and I'm not sure the market would bear it at this point. Also -- the labor market isn't there. Feeding and housing workers is an astronomical expense.

but can only wonder why our State leaders haven't shifted the industry mainly to benefit Alaskans instead of investors outside of Alaska.

Because it's a region-specific industry. I've seen it said on this forum that they should disallow vessels that aren't registered in Alaskan waters from fishing in Alaskan waters, which makes sense at first, until you realize that many Alaskan FV owners would be SOL if they couldn't run to WA and fish in their waters when the fall salmon hits. These things work both ways. Believe me on this -- the Alaska seafood industry needs Seattle a hell of a lot more than Seattle needs Alaska.

The seafood market isn't going to save Alaska from what's coming, but there are plenty of good opportunities for enterprising individuals who want to work hard to make a success of a seafood business. For most people, the work is just too hard.