January 31, 2017
Contact: Lindsey Bloom, Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay, (907) 723-3662
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New Study: Bristol Bay fishing jobs outnumber Pebble Mine jobs nearly 100 to one
Fishing industry in Bristol Bay offers ongoing economic boon to Alaskans.
DILLINGHAM, AK – In response to a new study released by University of Alaska – Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research, known as ISER, members of Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay point to findings demonstrating the economic advantages of the Bristol Bay fishery over Pebble jobs. Total economic contribution and number of jobs from the sustainable fishing industry outnumbered offerings at the Pebble Exploration Project. Furthermore, the new ISER study concerning jobs at Pebble cover only a short time frame whereas the fishery can continue employing Alaskans forever.
The 2010 ISER Study, “The Economic Importance of the Bristol Bay Salmon Industry” reports:
“In 2010, the Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery supported 12,000 fishing and processing jobs during the summer salmon fishing season. Measuring these as year-round jobs, and adding jobs created in other industries, the Bristol Bay salmon fishery created the equivalent of almost 10,000 year-round American jobs across the country, and brought Americans $500 million in income. For every dollar of direct output value created in Bristol Bay fishing and processing, more than two additional dollars of output value are created in other industries, as payments from the Bristol Bay fishery ripple through the economy. […]The Bristol Bay salmon industry is a major supporter of infrastructure and utilities in the Bristol Bay region, a major taxpayer, and a very important source of local jobs and income.”
Lindsey Bloom of Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay stated,
“The greatest contrast between economic and employment offerings of Pebble and the stimulus provided by the Bristol Bay fishery is that the fishery can continue providing family supporting jobs forever, as it has for generations, if we continue to take care of our resource. Pebble offers far less employment than the fishery, and risks 12,000 jobs in an industry valued at over $1.5 billion per year. The math is simple and the choice is clear – Bristol Bay is no place for Pebble Mine,” said Bloom. “In comparison to Pebble’s 300 local jobs over a four year period, the Bristol Bay fishery employed 4,369 Alaskans in 2010 alone. Moreover, I know from firsthand experience through the generations of fishermen in my family, that fishermen and processors make good money that supports families and local communities, and the industry has effects that trickle down into benefits for our state and many other industries.”
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Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay is a coalition of over 100 fishing organizations and thousands of individual fishermen working to protect the 14,000 jobs, more than $500 million in annual income, and over half the world’s wild sockeye salmon provided by Bristol Bay’s 125 year sustainable fishery. Learn more at fishermenforbristolbay.org.