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The commercial fishing and sportfish/personal-use fisheries are hooking into some big numbers released in the last few weeks regarding the economic value of the two industries.

Two separate reports have been released this month looking at the economic impacts across the state for both sportfishing and commercial fishing.

The Department of Fish and Game released its report, Economic Impacts and Contributions of Sportfishing in Alaska, conducted by Southwick Associates, Inc, first, earlier this month.

The report found that sportfishing generated close to $1.4 billion for the state in 2007. Additionally, the industry supports more than 15,800 jobs.

Their report took into account the money generated by recreational fisherman across the state, both resident and non-resident. This included everything from money spent to purchase a fishing license to lodging fees paid by tourists who visit the state to fish.

Of interest for the central peninsula is the massive impact the Cook Inlet region has on the sportfish industry compared to the rest of the state.

Total angler expenditures for the Southcentral region closed in on $989 million in 2007. Compare that to the state's total angler expenditures of just under $1.4 billion, and recreational fishermen in the Southcentral region contributed up to 71 percent of all angler expenditures in Alaska in 2007.

Additionally, of the 15,879 jobs created across the state because of sportfishing, 11,535, or almost 73 percent of those are in southcentral.

Lisa Evans, assistant director of Fish and Game's sportfish division, said the report couldn't provide figures specific to the Kenai Peninsula or Kenai River at this time.

"We are taking a look at whether sub-regions would provide a valid sample to make assumptions for sub-regions," she said. "We are looking at several areas of the state but we wouldn't want to do that if we don't have a valid sample size."

Evans said her division wasn't entirely surprised by the findings of the study.

"It kind of confirms what we expected, that it's a valuable industry in the state," she said.

The sportfish report has already become an arguing point for determining allocations by various groups around the state though.

Evans said that was not the intent of the report.

"There's user groups that will want to use the data for that purpose, but that's kind of their call," she said.

Evans said that the report would best serve policy makers in making fiscal decisions.

She said she also hopes the report will spur similar reports by the department to better understand the impacts of commercial fishing and hunting.

"I'd be interested in having similar economic studies for commercial fishing and wildlife so we can look across the board at the economic impact of hunting and fishing in the state," she said.

A report on commercial fishing, The Seafood Industry in Alaska's Economy, completed by Northern Economics, was released on Wednesday for the Marine Conservation Alliance, At-Sea Processors Association and Pacific Seafood Processors Association.

The report said that the seafood industry contributed $5.8 billion to the state's economic output in 2007.

Additionally the industry provides 78,519 direct, indirect and induced jobs in Alaska, according to the report.

Dave Benton, executive director of the Marine Conservation Alliance, said that the report showed that if Alaska were an independent nation, it would be ranked ninth in the entire world in terms of seafood production.

Benton explained the basis for the report, saying, "What we wanted to do was put together a comprehensive snapshot of the effect the seafood industry has on Alaska, regionaly, statewide, and in the national and global economy."

Benton, like Evans, noted that this report was not meant to influence allocation issues.

"We weren't trying to say anything about allocation issues," he said.

He noted too that while the report has hit the streets close behind the report released on sportfishing, the two weren't linked.

"It was really a coincidence that it came out on heels of the sportfish report," he said.

Benton said he'd like to see the study continue on a regular basis.

"I would be really hopeful that this could be done on an every couple of years basis," he said. "It would be really excellent if we could institutionalize reporting like this with some institution or agency that routinely put these types of reports out."

Ricky Gease, executive director of the Kenai River Sportfishing Association, said both reports would be valuable to policymakers.

"It's important for policymakers to read through and understand so when they do start making allocation decisions they're better informed," he said.

He was not necessarily surprised by the findings of the reports, either.

Speaking of the sportfish report he said, "This reconfirms that sportfishing expenditures are very important to the state and that it's a fundamental engine of the economy on the peninsula."

Gease said he was also impressed by the repeatability of the sportfish report, and hopes that's an advantage that will allow it to be conducted in future years.

"Repeatability is very important so we don't continue to underestimate the impact of sportfishing," he said.

He did note however that while both reports measure the value of sportfishing and commercial fishing, respectively, neither examines their profitability, something he would like to see done for both in the future

The reports can be viewed online and downloaded for a more comprehensive look at http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/statewide/economics/index.cfm for the sportfish report, and http://www.marineconservationalliance.org/ for the seafood indsutry report.

Dante Petri can be reached at dante.petri@peninsulaclarion.com.