Southwest Alaska - Economy

Economy

Land in Southwest Alaska is owned and managed mainly by the Federal government, the State of Alaska, and Alaska Native Regional Corporations including Calista, Cook Inlet, Bristol Bay, Aleut, and Koniag. There is little private land, other than that owned by the Native Corps. The economy rests on resource extraction, subsistence, and government spending.

Fishing, both commercial and recreational, is the mainstay of the economy. Much of the commercial fishing is conducted by non-residents. Kodiak and Unalaska are among the most productive fishing ports in the United States. The salmon, trout, king crab, and halibut fisheries are extremely lucrative. Bristol Bay's commercial sockeye salmon industry is the largest in the world. Approximately 80% of that catch is taken by non-locals. A part of the fishery is processed locally. Only a small share of the value of the harvest is captured in the region, mainly as wages, and taxes and royalties levied by local governments and Native Regional Corporations.

Hunting and other tourism industries are dependable, although small and seasonal, parts of the economy.

Mining, mainly for gold, platinum, and mercury, has been a consistent part of the Southwest Alaska economy since purchase from Russia. Although mining is currently occurring only on a small scale, a controversy rages over a number of proposed resource extraction projects. These include the proposed Pebble Mine, which would put a large open pit gold and copper mine at the headwaters of the Nushagak River and Kvichak River rivers in the Bristol Bay watershed. Also, the federal government is seeking to lift the moratorium on oil drilling leases in Bristol Bay.

Most of the smaller settlements rely on subsistence activities. Most of the area's residents are shareholders in a Native Corporation.