In 2015 regional fisheries and NSSP operations deliver $6.6 million to Norton Sound communities
UNALAKLEET—Norton Sound Seafood Products (NSSP) paid out more than $4.5 million to 211 resident crab, halibut and salmon fishers in the 2015 commercial fishing season and another $2.1 million to seasonal NSSP employees. This year’s payout to commercial fishers more than triples the $1.4 million paid to residents in the 2005 fishery. “After tipping the $4 million mark in NSSP’s payout to commercial fishers last year, it’s great to see continued growth in the regional commercial fisheries,” Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation (NSEDC) Board Chairman Dan Harrelson said. “Our successful fishery operations are impossible without the hard-working fishers and the dedicated seasonal NSSP employees. We provide processing plants, buying stations and tender vessels, but it’s the residents who make the regional fisheries successful.”
Norton Sound commercial fishers saw a $3.1 million increase in ex-vessel value in 10 years with the $4.5 million paid in 2015. In the salmon fishery alone, the total number of participants nearly tripled and the ex-vessel value grew from $296,253 to $1.9 million in the 10 year period. “We credit much of the growth toward providing increased support and fishing opportunity to Norton Bay communities,” Chairman Harrelson said. “With buying stations in Golovin, Koyuk, Shaktoolik and Elim and a fleet of tender vessels moving Norton Bay product, more fishers can participate in the Norton Sound commercial fisheries.”
The Norton Sound red king crab fishery nearly tripled in ex-vessel value in the same 10-year period. In 2005, 26 fishers delivered a total harvest of 295,000 pounds with an ex-vessel value totaling $868,670. This compares to the 2015 Norton Sound red king crab season where 36 fishers delivered a total harvest of 428,656 pounds of product with an ex-vessel value totaled $2.35 million in a record 26-day fishery.
| 2015 NSSP COMMERCIAL FISHERIES | |||
| Fishery | Number of Fishers | Total Harvest (pounds) | Ex-Vessel Value |
| Crab | 36 | 428,656 | $2,353,826 |
| Salmon | 137 | 2,496,834 | $1,927,552 |
| Halibut | 24 | 52,994 | $230,446 |
Along with the industrious fishers from throughout the region, the success of the 2015 fisheries is in large part due to reliable and hard-working NSSP seasonal crews. Two-hundred sixty-seven Norton Sound residents were hired in the processing plants in Unalakleet, Nome and Savoonga, at community buying stations in Shaktoolik, Golovin, Elim and Koyuk, and for tender vessel crews. “Without the processing, buying and tendering crews, NSSP would not be what it is today,” President & CEO Janis Ivanoff said. “As an organization that provides economic development, Norton Sound Seafood Products operations are in direct line with Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation’s (NSEDC) mission. The NSEDC Board of Directors and staff thank the fishers and seasonal crews that participated in the Norton Sound commercial fishery.”
For more information on the 2015 Norton Sound Seafood Products fishing season, contact William “Middy” Johnson at (907) 624-3190 or middy@nsedc.com.
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