Alaska’s commercial fisheries are vast and lucrative. With a dockside value of $1.7 billion in 2016, the industry employs more than 29,000 people. To help fishermen and others understand more about the state’s 180-plus commercial fisheries, Alaska Sea Grant has developed an interactive Alaska fisheries map. It features target species, gear, locations, seasons and more.
Sunny Rice, Alaska Sea Grant’s Marine Advisory agent in Petersburg, spearheaded the project to complement the business tools available on our FishBiz website.
“Building the interactive map was a collaborative effort that allowed us to take advantage of the geographic diversity in our program,” said Rice. “Our agents from Nome to Unalaska to Kodiak and Prince William Sound drew on their knowledge of local fisheries to make sure we had a tool that made sense for Alaska fishermen.”
The interactive map allows users to search 183 different fisheries by region, target species and fishing gear. They can also search by limited entry, catch share, Individual Fishing Quota and other categories to help determine costs of entry.
