A new annual report from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute sees several "threats and challenges for Alaska in the global marketplace."
Among the listed items:
• Chilean salmon farmers have greatly increased production and are on track to fully rebound from devastating outbreaks of the ISA virus, infectious salmon anemia.
• Funding could be reduced for the Market Access Program, which helps promote American products abroad. The federal program has allocated millions of dollars to ASMI in years past.
• Aquaculture continues to increase its percentage of world seafood supply, with Alaska's share now down to 1.3 percent.
• With increases in the value of state's wild salmon, halibut and other species, Alaska producers face "price resistance" in the marketplace.
• Alaska always has been an expensive place to operate, and it's getting worse with rising fuel and transportation costs.