The North American Political Economy (w/ video)

         Washington has been and will always be a place of very important primary sector occupation.  The fishing and logging that takes place here is an essential part of Washington's economy.  Commercial fishing has been part of Washington since about 1792 when the Columbia River was discovered (Harrison, 2008).  Explorers saw great potential when they discovered the large amount of salmon in the river.  They began to export the salmon to Boston's harbor but the preservation of fish and import taxes made it a financial obstacle (Harrison, 2008).  After the development of canned salmon came along, the number of commercial fishing on the Columbia grew exponentially from 100 boats in 1872 to 1,500 in 1881 (Harrison, 2008).  Now in the 21st Century, non-tribal commerical fisheries can bring in about $148.3 million in income alone (Radtke, 2011).  In 2006, there were 3,520 people employed in this industry.  More recently, there has been an economic contribution of $1.84 billion dollars employing almost 15,000 primary sector workers (Radtke, 2011). 

        Washington has also had a long history of logging.  Since the early 1800s, Washington's forests have been harvested for its valuable timber for housing, building cities, and exporting (History, 2013).  By the late 1820s, the region saw it's first saw mill and by 1890, Washington was producing 1 billion board feet of wood a year (History, 2013).  Although logging is a major part of Washington's economy today, there was more trees being logged in the early 20th century than there is today.  Today, the logging industry has been hit hard with the current recession the United States and other parts of the world have been going through.  Manufacturing has been a weak link (DNR, 2012) and this can slow down the primary sector of Washington's economy.  The price of lumber that the mill is willing to pay has been going down in recent years as well (DNR, 2012).  Another part of Washington's economy has been in the quaternary sector.  High-technology industries have been prevalent in areas where there are major research universities, including the University of Washington.  Seattle is also home to the western headquarters for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA's) research centers.    

*This is a video of History's televsision series "Ax Men".  The first six and a half minutes shows how logging is done by Port Angeles, WA's Rygaard Logging Co.

http://www.history.com/shows/ax-men/videos/playlists/season-4-full-episodes#ax-men-alaska

http://www.rhppublishing.com/smbc/attachments/SMBC%20Washington%20Total%20Commercial%20Fisheries%204.pdf  

http://www.nwcouncil.org/history/commercialfishing.asp 

http://www.history.com/shows/ax-men/articles/history-of-logging