American fishermen landed 9.9 billion pounds of fish and shellfish in 2017, according to NOAA Fisheries’ Fisheries of the United States, 2016.
U.S. Seafood Landings – Volume and Value
The volume of landings increased by 344 million pounds (3.6 percent) from the year before. The value of the landings also increased to $5.4 billion, up $110 million (2.1 percent) from 2016.
The highest value U.S. commercial species were salmon ($688 million), crabs ($610 million), lobsters ($594 million), shrimp ($531 million), scallops ($512 million), and Alaska pollock ($413 million).
The largest U.S. commercial fishery by volume was Alaska pollock, which had near record landings of 3.4 billion pounds (up 1 percent from 2016). Finfish accounted for 88 percent of the total landings, and 47 percent of the value.
Alaska led all states in volume with landings of 6.0 billion pounds, followed by: Louisiana, 890.6 million pounds; Washington, 665.9 million pounds; Virginia, 344.0 million pounds; and Mississippi, 311.0 million pounds.
Dutch Harbor, Alaska, was the leading U.S. port in quantity of commercial fishery landings, followed by: Aleutian Islands (Other), Alaska; Kodiak, Alaska; Reedville, VA; Pascagoula-Moss Point, MS; and Empire-Venice, Louisiana.
Alaska led all states in value of landings with $1.8 billion, followed by: Massachusetts, $605.3 million; Maine, $511.3 million; Louisiana, $354.3 million; and Washington, $313.7 million.
The port with the highest value of seafood was New Bedford, Mass., with $389 million in landings, followed by: Dutch Harbor, Alaska; Naknek, Alaska; Kodiak, Alaska; and Alaska Peninsula (Other), AK.
Fisheries
Pacific Trawl Fish
U.S. landings of Pacific trawl fish (Pacific cod, flounders, hake, Pacific ocean perch, Alaska pollock, and rockfishes) were almost 5.5 billion pounds, an increase of almost 4 percent in quantity compared with 2016.
Alaska pollock landings (3.4 billion) increased by about 1% and were above their 5 – year average. Landings of Pacific cod were 657.3 million pounds, down 7 percent from 2016. Pacific hake (whiting) landings were 773.9 million pounds (up almost 39%) compared to 2016. Landings of rockfishes were 53.7 million pounds (up nearly 27%) compared to 2016.
Salmon
U.S. commercial landings of salmon were 1 billion pounds, an increase of 447.2 million pounds (80%) compared with 2016. Alaska accounted for nearly 98 percent of total landings; Washington, 2 percent; California, Oregon. Salmon fisheries in the Great Lakes accounted for less than 1 percent of the catch.
Sea Herring
U.S. commercial landings of sea herring were 179.9 million pounds. Landings of Atlantic sea herring were 110.8 million pounds, down 28.5 million pounds (more than 20%) compared with 2016. Landings of Pacific sea herring were 69.1 million pounds.
Halibut
U.S. landings of Atlantic and Pacific halibut increased by 1.3 million pounds (5%) to 26.5 million pounds (round weight). The Pacific fishery accounted for all but 244,000 pounds of the 2017 total halibut catch.
Menhaden
The U.S. menhaden landings were more than 1.4 billion pounds, a decrease of 314.4 million pounds (18%) compared with 2016. Landings increased by nearly 32.8 million pounds (9%) in the Atlantic states, while decreasing by 347.2 million pounds (more than 25%) in the Gulf states compared with 2016. Landings along the Atlantic coast were 396.3 million pounds. Gulf region landings were 1 billion pounds.
North Atlantic Trawl Species
Landings of butterfish, Atlantic cod, cusk, flounders (winter/blackback, summer/fluke, yellowtail, and other), haddock, red and white hake, ocean perch, pollock, and whiting (silver hake) in the North Atlantic (combination of New England, Middle Atlantic) were more than 70.5 million pounds, an increase of nearly 8.5 million pounds compared with 2016.
Of these species, flounders led in total value in the North Atlantic, accounting for nearly 44 percent of the total; followed by haddock, 14 percent; and whiting (silver hake) almost 11 percent.
Tuna
Landings of tuna by U.S. fishermen at ports in United States, American Samoa, other U.S. territories, and foreign ports increased by more than 500,000 pounds to 475.0 million pounds compared with 2016. In 2017, U.S. fishermen landed 26.2 million pounds of bigeye tuna, 75.8 million pounds of yellowfin tuna, and 352 million pounds of skipjack.
Clams
Landings of all clam species yielded 84.9 million pounds of meats. Surf clams yielded 40.2 million pounds, the ocean quahog fishery produced 31.5 million, the hard clam fishery produced nearly 7.3 million pounds, and soft clams yielded nearly 2.2 million pounds.
Crabs
Landings of all species of crabs were almost 274.6 million pounds a decrease of more than 13% compared with 2016. Hard blue crab landings were 142.4 million pounds, Dungeness crab landings were 61.3 million pounds, U.S. landings of king crab were nearly 12.9 million pounds, and Snow crab (opilio) landings were over 21.3 million pounds.
American Lobster
American lobster landings decreased approximately 16 percent to 133 million pounds. For the 36th consecutive year, Maine led in American lobster landings with 108 million pounds. Massachusetts had landings of almost 16.7 million pounds. Together, Maine and Massachusetts produced nearly 94 percent of the total national landings.
Spiny Lobster
U.S. landings of spiny lobster decreased by more than 32 percent to 4 million pounds. Much of the decrease was related to hurricanes and other storms.
Shrimp
U.S. landings of shrimp were 283.3 million pounds in 2017. With nearly 216.8 million pounds in landings, the Gulf region accounted for almost 77 percent of the U.S. wild shrimp catch. Louisiana led all Gulf states with 93.1 million pounds; followed by Texas, 75.4 million pounds; Alabama, more than 24.4 million pounds; Florida West Coast, 13.7 million pounds; and Mississippi, over 10.2 million pounds.
In the Pacific region, shrimp landings decreased sharply compared to 2016. Oregon had landings of 23 million pounds; Washington, 7.4 million pounds; and California, 4.4 million pounds.
Scallops
U.S. landings of bay and sea scallops (meats) increased by more than 27 percent in 2017, totaling 51.7 million pounds. Bay scallop landings increased by nearly 180 percent to 272,000 pounds. Sea scallop landings were 51.5 million pounds, an increase of 27 percent from 2016.
Oysters
U.S. oyster landings yielded 31.8 million pounds. The Gulf region led in production with more than 16.4 million pounds of meats; followed by the South Atlantic region with over 5.3 million pounds; and the Middle Atlantic region with almost 4.7 million pounds.
Squid
U.S. commercial landings of squid were 207.4 million pounds in 2017. Pacific Coast region squid landings were 139.5 million pounds; followed by New England, 35.9 million pounds; Middle Atlantic region, 31.8 million pounds; South Atlantic region, 196,000 pounds; and Gulf region, 39,000 pounds. California led the U.S. in squid landings with 137.5 million pounds, followed by New Jersey with 24.9 million pounds.
Fisheries of the United States is an annual yearbook of U.S. fisheries statistics. The Fisheries of the United States, 2017 report is available at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/fisheries-united-states-2017
source: NOAA Fisheries
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