Interested in working in the Alaska fishing industry?  If you are a hard worker and enjoy a little bit of adventure, then a job in Alaska’s fishing and processing industry may be perfect for you. The fishing industry offers the potential to earn great money in short periods of time.  The Alaska fishing industry also has numerous fishing seasons, so you may be able to pick the period of time you desire to work.  For many years, college students have been going up to Alaska for the summer salmon fishing seasons to earn money to help pay for college. But, there are also good opportunities to work other times of the year.  Learn more about working in Alaska on AlaskaFishingJobsNetwork!

The Alaska Seafood Industry represents perhaps one of the largest opportunities for people to find work in Alaska. The industry itself is one of the largest hiring forces in terms of available jobs each year, with over 65,000 people working for the industry. With both seasonal and year-round jobs available these opportunities reflect an industry that makes billions in revenue. The largest independent or private employer in Alaska is its fishing industry with sales to the United States as well as abroad coming in at over $11 billion dollars annually. For an example of the amount of fish shipped out of Alaska each year, 45% of the fish caught is shipped to Japan, where it fetches high prices because of its high quality. Another 38% is shipped to the lower 48 (as they say in Alaskan lingo) where it is enjoyed year round by the millions who consume it.

As you might imagine with such a large industry and with so many jobs filled each year as a result of high demand, there is quite a lot to be done to ensure the world receives its fresh Alaskan fish and seafood. Of the people employed by the fishing industry each year, approximately 57% of the jobs are filled by people who are not residents of Alaska. This is largely due to the incredible number of seasonal jobs that people travel long distances in order to occupy. With such a strong demand for work during certain parts of the year, the Alaskan fishing industry becomes one of the best places to earn good money in just a few months. If the fishing’s strong, and the fish prices high, a nice paycheck might be earned.

The salmon season is one of the most well-known and popular seasons in which to work, taking place mainly in the summer months. With the season running from mid-May to late October, college students and others seeking seasonal work find Alaska to be one of the best opportunities for travel and money.

Before heading off to Alaska with your bags packed and an eager bank account, there are more than a few things to consider. Having as much knowledge about this complicated and intricate industry will help you understand the work available and realities behind working the fishing season in Alaska. Many people consider it one of the best experiences of their lives and relish the long hours and hard work. Others, slightly less prepared, find the work too demanding. Without understanding the demands of the season and with no understanding of how the fishing regions and fisheries in Alaska differ, these people have a hard and frustrating time finding good work.

A job during the fishing season in Alaska, aside from being an excellent opportunity to make some serious cash, offers far more. The beautiful scenery of the Alaskan wilderness has been captured in adventure and outdoor novels for centuries. And while working the boats and the fishing season may be slightly less adventurous than Jack London’s famous tales, it certainly affords you the opportunity to see some incredible countryside and to mold some Alaskan stories all your own.

Fact: According to official state statistics more than 1.6 million tourists visited Alaska in 2009 between May and September. More than half left the state on a cruise ship, and approximately 65% spent at least a night aboard a cruise ship during their trip!

As a summer job seeker this is important information! The million+ visitors come to Alaska looking for things to do in coastal towns such as Sitka, Juneau, and Ketchikan. And while in Alaska many cruise passengers end up taking a train or tour buses to interior hot spots, such as Denali National Park.

Many of the major cruise lines such as Holland America and Princess have separate ‘land tour’ divisions, which operate tour bus, rail and lodging operations throughout the state. Guess what? This is where the tourism industry jobs are! Those two companies alone hire thousands of seasonal workers for all kinds of positions. For Alaska cruise ship jobs look on each company’s website.

Beyond the major employers there are opportunities with hundreds of other seasonal businesses – especially in towns receiving the most cruise ship traffic. Look for work in gift shops, with whitewater rafting companies, small, Alaska-based cruise lines, fishing and wilderness lodges, fishing charter operators…and so on. We talk about Alaska lodge jobs on another page of AlaskaFishingJobsNetwork.

The bottom line is that there aren’t enough Alaskans to fill all the seasonal positions.

And perhaps you’ve seen the incredible Deadliest Catch show on the Discovery Channel? If not, watch it to learn what Alaska crab fishing jobs are all about – including what a crab boat deckhand endures!

The fishing industry operates year-round in Alaska, so it’s possible to find open deckhand positions or other jobs on fishing boats any time of year. There are herring and halibut fisheries, pollock and other groundfish fishing seasons. The size of vessel and job descriptions vary somewhat depending on the season and the type of fish being harvested.

On AlaskaFishingJobsNetwork you can learn about each fishery (see: Alaska commercial fishing seasons), the types of commonly used vessels, and a lot more. We outline what a deckhand job entails and give job search advice too.

Pollock is generally turned into surimi, which is used to create artificial crab (Krab) meat.

In Southeast Alaska we think the best places to work are:

Petersburg, Sitka, and Ketchikan. Also, the city of Juneau is Alaska’s capital city. While it’s not the best place to find seafood industry work, there are many jobs in hospitality and tourism during the summer months! All in all, the towns of Southeast Alaska are meccas for summer workers. One nice thing about the region is that you can travel between towns using the Alaska Marine Highway System (ferry) or you can fly ($).

On the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound region the best places to work in the seafood industry include:

Kenai, Homer, Seward, Cordova, and Valdez. These towns can be accessed in a variety of ways. You can drive to Homer, Kenai, and Seward from Anchorage. You can take the Alaska ferry to Cordova and Valdez. Like Juneau, in Southeast, the cool-as-heck town of Homer is not the best place to find ‘commercial seafood’ jobs. However, the charter fishing industry is big here and it’s a tourism hotspot during the months of May through September.

Another great place to work in the seafood industry? Try Kodiak. Unlike most of the towns mentioned so far, Kodiak is a year-round seafood town. There is a summer salmon harvesting and processing period on Kodiak Island, but the industry here is much more comprehensive. Processing facilities here typically seek year-round workers.

Finally…we absolutely love Naknek in Bristol Bay. It’s a place to go for summer harvesting and processing jobs early in summer. The huge sockeye salmon fishery usually begins in mid- to late-June and ends by mid-July. Many seasonal seafood workers leave here in July, flying to areas in the south to finish out the season. Naknek is very remote!