US fishermen and fish catches were hit hard in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic, two new fishery status updates released by NOAA Fisheries have confirmed.
According to an update to the ‘Fisheries of the United States 2020’ report, “virtually every part of the fishing industry experienced impacts in some form”, with US fishermen reporting 8.4 billion pounds or 3.8 million tonnes of landings the year before last, down 10.4% from 2019. The value of those products was reported at US$ 4.8 billion, down 14.6% from the year before.
Finfish accounted for 87% of the total landings, but only 44% of the value. Meanwhile, the 2020 average ex-vessel price paid to fishermen was 56 cents per pound, three cents less than in 2019.
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, were the 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 were 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 demand for seafood, the US 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 remained the most overall valuable import, accounting for 27% 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.
In 2020, the US per capita consumption of seafood products declined to 19 pounds from 19.3 pounds in 2019.
Although there was increased consumption of shrimp, canned tuna, and canned sardine, this was offset by declines in consumption of fresh and frozen finfish, and by the lower canned salmon production due to the biennial pink salmon run.
Meanwhile, NOAA’s ‘Status of the Stock’ report states that more than 90% of the stocks that the agency tracks were not subject to overfishing in 2021. Twenty-six stocks remain on the overfishing list, while the overfished list grew by two to 51
Since 2000, 47 stocks have been rebuilt.
