U.S. fishermen’s catch up in value, volume dips slightly

American fisheries grew by a little more than 2 per cent in value last year, even with fishermen bringing slightly less fish to shore, the U.S. government reported on Wednesday.

U.S. commercial fishermen brought 9.6 billion pounds of seafood to land last year, which was a decrease of 1.5 per cent from 2015, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in the annual “Fisheries of the United States” report. But the catch was valued at $5.3 billion, which was 2.1 per cent more than in 2015, the report said. One possible explanation for the dip in catch could be the increase in seafood imports, which rose 1 per cent to 5.8 billion pounds, the report said.

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, who oversees NOAA, said the growth in imports should be a motivator to expand the aquaculture sector in the U.S. For example, shrimp and salmon are among the most imported species, and they are extensively farm raised. “Expanding our nation’s aquaculture capacity presents an opportunity to reduce America’s reliance on imports while creating thousands of new jobs,” Ross said. The largest wild commercial fishery in America remains the Alaska pollock, which came close to a record year in terms of catch volume. Fishermen brought 3.4 billion pounds of the fish to the docks last year, up 3 per cent from 2015.

The pollock are used in numerous processed food products, including frozen fish fillets, fast-food sandwiches and fish sticks.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS