WHEREAS, Alaska is blessed with an abundance of natural resources from which our economy benefits significantly; and

WHEREAS, Alaska’s fisheries are an integral sector of Alaska’s economy and have always been an invaluable part of the Alaskan way of life; and

WHEREAS, Alaska’s commercial fisheries employed an average of 56,800 workers in 2015-2016, the most of any private industry; and

WHEREAS, Alaska’s commercial fisheries contribute an average of $5.2 billion in economic output to the state’s economy annually; and

WHEREAS, Alaska’s commercial fisheries yielded a harvest of 5.6 billion pounds of seafood in 2016, more than all other Unites States combined; and

WHEREAS, Alaska exports more than one million metric tons of seafood each year, bringing over $3 billion of new money into the U.S. economy, and is the state’s top foreign export; and

WHEREAS, Alaska’s world class commercial fisheries have produced over 169 billion pounds since statehood in 1959, and an estimated $170 billion in cumulative first wholesale value; and

WHEREAS, the economic and cultural value of Alaska’s fisheries cannot be overstated.

NOW THEREFORE, I, Bill Walker, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF ALASKA, do hereby proclaim October 2017 as:

Alaska Seafood Month

And October 25th as:

Commercial Fishing Day

in Alaska, and encourage all Alaskans to take this opportunity to celebrate the incredible value of our fisheries, and the impact they have on the Alaskan way of life.