Alaska tops commercial landings by volume, value

Commercial seafood harvesters working in Alaska continue to lead the nation in both the volume and value of commercial landings, according to the 2017 Fisheries of the United States report released by federal fisheries officials on Dec. 13.

Alaska led all states in both volume and value of landings in 2017, increasing 7 percent in volume to 6 billion pounds and 14 percent in value, to $1.8 billion.

The nearest competitors by volume were Louisiana with 890.6 million pounds and Washington, with 665.9 million pounds. By Value, second place went to Massachusetts, at $605.3 million, and Maine, at $511.3 million.

For the 21st consecutive year Dutch Harbor led the nation as the port with the highest volume of seafood landed, 769 million pounds valued at $173 million.

NOAA’s data showed that Alaska Pollock made up 91.6 percent of the volume and 47.9 percent of the value, while snow crab and king crab accounted for an additional 33.5 percent of the value of Dutch Harbor landings and 1.8 percent of the volume. New Bedford, Massachussetts, for the 18th consecutive year, had the highest valued catch, 111 million pounds valued at $389 million, due in large part to highly valued sea scallops. Sea scallops account for 80 percent of the value of landings in New Bedford.

The report also noted data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations that showed Americans, the largest consumer of seafood in the world after China, consumed 5.2 billion pounds of seafood in 2017. The average American ate 16 pounds of fish and shellfish in 2017, up by 1.1 pounds from 2016. While most fish caught in the U.S. is consumed as seafood, 17 percent of the 2017 catch was used for other products, including pet food, fish meal and oil.

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NOAA Fisheries offers the public easy to comprehend facts at www.FishWatch.gov to keep them updated on smart, sustainable seafood choices.

To meet consumer demand, the U.S. also continues to be a major importer of seafood and in fact between 85 percent and 95 percent of seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported, as measured by edible weight. NOAA Fisheries notes, however that a significant portion of the imported seafood is actually caught by American fishermen, exported for processing and then reimported to the U.S.

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