TU Study Confirms Salmon are "Red Gold"

Excerpted from the Trout Unlimited Press Release:

(Juneau, Alaska) - A new study commissioned by Trout Unlimited Alaska finds that Southeast Alaska's healthy salmon and trout populations pump nearly $1 billion into the local economy every year and account for more than one in ten jobs.

This is the first study that takes a combined look at the economic valueof all four sectors of the region's salmonid fisheries - commercial,sport, subsistence/personal use and hatchery production. Previous studies have looked at each of the sectors separately."The study shows the healthy and abundant salmon and trout populations of Southeast Alaska are a huge driver of the regional economy. "The reason we have such rich and sustainable fisheries is careful harvestmanagement as well as a lack of the dams, pollution, and agriculturaland urban development that have decimated so many runs in the Lower 48,"said Tim Bristol, director of Trout Unlimited Alaska.

The following are some of the study's highlights:*

$986.1 million: estimated annual total economic outputgenerated by commercial, sport, subsistence and hatchery production ofsalmon and trout in Southeast Alaska, as purchases made in each sector ripple through the regional economy*

$466.1 million: estimated annual value of salmon and trout topeople who fish them commercially, for recreation and for subsistence and personal use*

7,282: estimated number of full or part-time jobs sustained bythe four fishing sectors*

10.8 %: approximate portion of regional employment that stemsfrom salmon and trout fishing *

$188.9 million: estimated annual personal income generated by salmon and trout fisheries and hatcheries"

The full report and an executive summary can be downloaded at: WWW.TU.ORG/CONSERVATION/ALASKA/TONGASS