Last week on March 30 the Alaska Legislature passed a resolution [HJR 29] supporting the continued federal ban on Russian seafood being imported into the U.S. Lawmakers and seafood market experts say the ban is crucial to boosting the value of Alaska’s industry.
Rep. Louise Stutes, a Kodiak Republican, is the chair of the state house fisheries committee, the body that sponsored the resolution. She said Alaska fishermen’s ex-vessel value has increased over the last year in part because the ban has been in effect.
“This year prices were higher for their seafood because there is no more Russian seafood on the market," Stutes said.
The current ban on Russian seafood went into effect in 2022 during the Biden administration and was expanded in 2023. However it’s set to expire next week on April 15 according to the state resolution, unless President Donald Trump extends the executive order, or Congress passes similar legislation to continue the ban.
According to the state resolution, exports of Russian-origin cod, pollock, and salmon were valued at over $450 million in the U.S. market in 2022, prior to the ban on Russian seafood going into effect. And since then, the state resolution asserts, Russia has only increased its seafood production. Also, Russia has banned importing United States seafood into its country since 2014.
Now seafood market experts say the stockpile of Russian fish that was flooding U.S. markets is starting to dwindle.
“So we are experiencing growth in both value and volume in the U.S. domestic markets and this is good for Alaska fishermen, our processors and Alaska’s economy," Jeremy Woodrow, the executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, said.
Woodrow recently testified to the Senate Resources Committee on Feb. 27 in favor of the Legislature's joint resolution supporting the ban. He said the ban on Russian seafood in the U.S. has helped stabilize the market for Alaska seafood products.
“If this ban were to be lifted, there is a strong chance that you’ll see Russian products start entering back into the marketplace because it comes in at cheaper rates," he said. "So these major buyers will shift their sourcing policies back to Russian seafood.”
The institute noted in its report earlier this year that the seafood industry still faces other challenges beyond competing with Russian seafood, such as high operating costs, trade and tariff disruptions to the global markets.
Additional measures to support Alaska seafood are currently being considered in Congress. That includes the FISH Act, Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvest, which will prohibit fishing vessels that are caught illegally fishing from accessing U.S. ports and waters. Sen. Dan Sullivan, the bill’s co-sponsor, said in a press release that this would target Chinese and Russian trawl vessels that are in competition with Alaska’s fleet.
Meanwhile, the Legislature’s resolution supporting the ban on Russian seafood is currently awaiting Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s signature. Stutes said she is very confident that the governor will sign the resolution.
