Commercial fishing jobs in Alaska are down for the fifth year in a row. That’s according to new economic data from the state Department of Labor for the year 2024.

Seafood harvesting jobs — which include commercial fishing but not processing jobs — dropped about 7.5% last year, about the same as the year before. That brings the industry’s harvesting jobs to their lowest count since records began in 2001.

The report’s author, Joshua Warren, says there are many reasons for the drop.

“There’s increased cost, competition in international markets, drop in prices,” he said. “A lot of different things can cause someone to choose to fish or not to fish.”

Warren says climate change is another major factor, bringing unpredictable runs and fishery closures for different species and regions of

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