400 million pounds of fish, representing $120 million, traveled through Kodiak’s commercial fishery in 2019. This makes Kodiak the third leading commercial fishery in the United States, and the sixth most valuable.
That’s according to an annual report published this week by NOAA, which looks at every fishery in the United States to document landings and fishery values.
For instance, Alaska is responsible for 60% of all seafood landings, and represents a third of the entire industry’s value, more than any one state. And all in all, nearly 1 billion fish were caught in saltwater bodies that year.
The top fish processed that year? The Alaska pollock, valued at $2 billion. Way back in second place was sockeye, worth over $1 billion.
Kodiak’s fishery places consistently in the top four US fisheries each year. Kodiak’s fishery retook its 3rd place standing, after placing behind Louisiana’s fishery in 2018.