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Courtesy of NAA:

The National Marine Fisheries Service (aka NOAA Fisheries) recently released their yearbook of fishery statistics for the United States for 2020. The report provides data on U.S. recreational catch and commercial fisheries landings and value as well as other aspects of U.S. commercial fishing. In addition, data are reported on the U.S. fishery processing industry, imports and exports of fishery-related products, and domestic supply and per capita consumption of fishery products. Click here to access the report and associated infographics.

In 2020, our nation and the commercial and recreational fishing industries faced unprecedented challenges in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtually every part of the fishing industry experienced impacts in some form, and information on the fishing industry is even more important. U.S. fishermen at ports in the 50 states landed 8.4 billion pounds valued at $4.8 billion in 2020. While these numbers indicate decreases in landings and value compared to 2019, they show that U.S. fishermen faced the challenge of a global pandemic and still provided the nation with nutritious, sustainable seafood.

Other highlights from the report include landings of 3.2 billion pounds for the nation’s largest commercial fishery, walleye pollock, valued at $420 million. Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and New Bedford, Massachusetts, are top ports for volume and value, continuing a more than two-decade trend driven by landings of pollock for Alaska and value of sea scallops in Massachusetts. The five highest value commercial species categories are crabs ($584 million), lobsters ($563 million), scallops ($488 million), salmon ($478 million), shrimp ($435 million), and Alaska (walleye) pollock ($420 million).

To meet a strong U.S. demand for seafood, the United States imported 6.1 billion pounds of seafood products, valued at $21.4 billion. Top imported products were shrimp, salmon fillet, whole salmon, whole tuna, and canned tuna. Shrimp remains the most overall valuable import, accounting for 27 percent of the value of total edible imports. The United States also exported 2.4 billion pounds of seafood valued at $4.4 billion. The top valued exports included: whole or eviscerated salmon (primarily sockeye), whole groundfish, surimi, lobster, caviar and roe, and crab and crabmeat.

Additionally, the recreational fishing industry, along with its associated businesses, continued to provide Americans with engaging recreational opportunities. U.S. anglers took nearly 200 million trips in 2020. These recreational anglers caught an estimated 1 billion fish and released 65 percent of those caught. The total recreational harvest was estimated at 344 million fish with a combined weight of more than 353 million pounds. The top U.S. species ranked by pounds harvested were striped bass, bluefish, red snapper, Spanish mackerel, spotted seatrout, and dolphinfish.

In 2019, estimated freshwater plus marine U.S. aquaculture production was 658 million pounds with a value of $1.5 billion. This reflects a decrease of 22.5 million pounds (3.3 percent) from 2018.

Freshwater aquaculture production decreased 15.7 million pounds (2.7 percent) from 2018. In 2019, marine aquaculture production decreased by 6.8 million pounds (7.0 percent) to 90.4 million pounds. The value of marine production remained essentially unchanged at $430.2 million.

Freshwater production is primarily composed of catfish (361.9 million pounds), crawfish (223.6 million pounds), and trout (66.3 million pounds). Atlantic salmon is the leading species for marine finfish aquaculture (estimated 31.9 million pounds), while oysters have the highest volume (42.3 million pounds) for marine shellfish production. Thriving shellfish industries can be found in all coastal regions of the United States; however, the Atlantic and Pacific Coast states produce more oysters, clams, and mussels by value ($134.1 and $131.0 million, respectively), while the Gulf states produce more by volume (24.3 million pounds). While aquaculture only accounts for 7 percent of total domestic seafood production, the focus on high value products means that 24 percent of the value of seafood products comes from aquaculture. [Editor’s Note: Tip of the hat to US farmers for developing high-value markets to avoid the tidal wave of foreign seafood imports.]

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that about half of world seafood production comes from aquaculture. By far, Asia is the leading continent for aquaculture production. Asia is responsible for about 91 percent of the global aquaculture production, which totals 115.5 million metric tons. The top five producing countries are in Asia: China, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. FAO reported that the United States ranked 18th in aquaculture production.

NOAA largely depends upon the USDA Census of Aquaculture for their U.S. aquaculture reporting. To correct U.S. production numbers, sign up for the Census of Agriculture and Aquaculture.  June 30, 2022 is the last day to sign up for the 2022 Ag Census. If you have never received a census and are new to NASS surveys, sign up to be counted today.