Alaska leads the nation in the value of its commercial fishing catch: chiefly salmon, crab, shrimp, halibut, herring, and cod. Anchorage and Dutch Harbor are major fishing ports, and the freezing and canning of fish dominates the food processing industry, the state's largest manufacturing enteprise. Lumbering and related industries are of great importance, although disputes over logging in the state's national parks and forests are ongoing.

Mining, principally of petroleum and natural gas, is the state's most valuable industry. Gold, which led to settlement at the end of the 19th century, is no longer mined in quantity. Fur-trapping, Alaska's oldest industry, endures; pelts are obtained from a great variety of animals. The Pribilof Islands are especially noted as a source of sealskins.