Dunleavy vetoes $10 million in funding for Alaska seafood marketing, for now

Wild seafood -- salmon and halibut from different parts of Alaska -- is labeled and displayed on June 28, 2023, at Sagaya City Market in downtown Anchorage. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed $10 million in funding for the organization charged with marketing Alaska seafood — but may agree to the funding later.

On Friday, Dunleavy issued a line-item veto for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. The governor’s office said that he could seek the funding later if the institute submitted a more detailed plan for the funds.

“The Dunleavy administration has offered support of supplemental funding next session once ASMI has developed a comprehensive marketing plan,” said Jeff Turner, the governor’s communications director.

The funding could be included in a supplemental budget bill — every legislative session, Alaska governors propose these bills to cover unexpected needs and other expenses that weren’t included in the original budget.

Alaska’s $6 billion seafood industry employs over 48,000 workers annually in the state, according to a report commissioned by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. The institute is a state agency that aims to increase the economic value of Alaskan seafood.

The veto comes at a time when Alaska’s fishing industry is in crisis , facing low consumer demand and steep competition from Russia, which harvests many of the same species as Alaska. For example, in 2023, the price paid to sockeye-salmon fishers delivering their catches was half of the 2022 price, according to the report.

Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, described the condition of Alaska’s fishing industry as “pretty miserable.”

“I’ve been involved in the fishing industry since 1970 and it’s just the worst I have ever seen,” said Stevens, who is also one of six legislators who are nonvoting members of the institute’s board.

Last year, the institute received $5 million in funding from the state. Before then, they had not received any state general funds since June 2018. The institute relies mainly on federal and industry payments: This year, the institute is expected to receive $13 million in funds from the federal government, and $16.2 million from industry assessments.

“The governor is always saying that we want to tell the world that we are open for business, but nothing says ‘we’re closed for business’ more than cutting these funds from ASMI,” said Stevens.

If the institute submits a detailed marketing plan for the vetoed funds, the governor could include funding in the state’s supplemental budget during the next legislative session, the governor’s office said. However, any potential funding would not be quickly available to the institute.

“Waiting doesn’t help at all,” said Stevens. “It’s a very short-sighted view of the industry. Now is the time to help it out, not to just delay things.”

According to ASMI’s executive director, Jeremy Woodrow, the institute’s main priorities lie in domestic markets. Multiple factors have influenced this focus. Among them: a strong dollar and weak yen has made Alaskan seafood less competitive in Japan, a key global market, said Woodrow.

Regarding the effect of the veto, Woodrow said: “We support the governor’s budget, one way or another.”

Additionally, in 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that prohibited Russian seafood imports. This executive order created a “hole” in the domestic seafood market that ASMI is looking to fill, according to Woodrow.

“Any updated marketing plan is going to include those priorities,” said Woodrow.

Tracy Welch, executive director of United Fishermen of Alaska, described the veto as a “missed opportunity” to support the state’s fishers, processors, and coastal communities.

“ASMI has operated on a shoestring budget for quite a few years, and so they do a lot with what they’re given, so I have confidence that they’ll do as best they can,” she said.

Despite her faith in the institute’s ability to “get creative” with the smaller budget, she emphasized the crisis that the seafood industry is currently facing. “The industry needs help now,” said Welch. “Not two years from now.”

For now, Alaska’s seafood industry will need to wait until the next legislative session to know if the institute will receive additional funding from the state.

“Any funding that we can get to help bolster that mission today, as opposed to tomorrow, is a step in the right direction,” said Welch.

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