Professor told Alaska fishermen aquaculture will not go away

Tor-Eddie Fossbakk The forecast for increased demand for seafood is good for Alaska but fishermen must remember they are competing against other proteins, said James L. Anderson, chair of the Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics at the University of Rhode Island at Kingston, R.I., according to an on-line article in Alaska Journal of Commerce’s. Despite criticism from environmental groups, aquaculture will not go away. Attempts to curtail aquaculture development will be circumvented by new technology and product substitution, Dr. Anderson told Alaska fishermen. The growth in aquaculture parallels a shift in the market toward value-added products that enhance consumer convenience. In the long run, all significant commercial seafood supplies will come from three sources: Fish farms, aquaculture-enhanced fisheries (like some of the Alaska salmon) and wild fisheries that adopt sustainable management systems, Anderson told participants at the Alaska Young Fishermen's Summit II in Anchorage last December. The Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program organized the forum. Anderson's research in fisheries and aquacultural economics began in 1980 with a study on the bioeconomics of salmon ranching in the Pacific Northwest. Salmon “ranching” involves raising young salmon fry in hatcheries and releasing them to mature in the open ocean. Anderson has also been involved in numerous research projects related to fisheries and aquaculture management, seafood marketing and international trade, and seafood price forecasting. His recent work has focused on analysis of salmon and shrimp markets and evaluating how aquaculture development and rights-based fisheries management are changing the global seafood sector. Dr. Anderson is also the publisher of several seafood reports through his company, Seafood Market Analyst. He also co-authored “The Great Salmon Run: Competition Between Wild and Farmed Salmon” for “Traffic North America”, and can be found at http://www.worldwildlife.org/trade/salmonreport.cfm. Picture: Professor James L. Anderson, University of Rhode Island. Photo: University of Rhode Island.