U.S. imported more seafood in 2017 than any prior year
90 percent of the seafood consumed in U.S. is imported.
PORTLAND, MAINE — The United States imported more seafood last year than at any point in its history, and the nation’s trade deficit in the sector is growing, federal data show.
The U.S. imported more than 6 billion pounds of seafood valued at more than $21.5 billion in 2017, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which overthat domestic and imported sees American fisheries. The seafood are both important country exported more than parts of the supply chain and 3.6 billion pounds valued at support thousands of Ameriabout $6 billion. can jobs, said Gavin Gibbons,
The widening gap comes spokesman for the National at a time when Commerce Fisheries Institute. Secretary Wilbur Ross, who He added that the trade heads the federal agency that imbalance isn’t caused by a includes NOAA, has identi- lack of fish to catch in U.S. fied reducing the deficit as a waters, as NOAA announced priority for the government. this spring the number of
The U.S. is home to major overfished fish stocks in the commercial fisheries for specountry is at an all-time low. cies such as Pacific salmon, “Our stocks are fished to the New England lobster and maximum sustainable yield. Alaska pollock, but it imports In order to feed Americans, more than 90 percent of the and to feed the raw materials seafood the public consumes. into the jobs that are needed,
Ross and others in U.S. fish- we have to get it from overeries are looking at new strat- seas,” Gibbons said. egies to cut the deficit, includSome of the seafood items ing increasing the amount of that American consumers are aquaculture-based farming, especially fond of, including said Jennie Lyons, a NOAA tuna, salmon and shrimp, are spokeswoman. heavily dependent on for
The U.S. trades in seafood eign imports to make it to with countries all over the U.S. markets and restaurants. world, and the countries it Some species, such as lob- buys the most from include sters, are caught in the U.S., Canada, China and Chile. exported to other countries Major buyers of U.S. seathat have greater processing food include China, Japan capacity, and return to the and South Korea. U.S. as imports.
While U.S. fishermen would In this way, the U.S. and love to grow commercial fish- its trade partners depend on eries, it’s important to note each other to satisfy world- wide demand for seafood products, said Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada.
“Our relationship is vital, and it is symbiotic,” he said.
There are also some fish the U.S. has imported more heavily in recent years because domestic stocks have dried up. One example is Atlantic cod, which was once the subject of a huge fishery in New England. That industry has collapsed due to overfishing and environmental changes.
The U.S. imported more than a half billion dollars’ worth of cod in 2017. That number has grown by more than $100 million since 2014, with fish that once came from Massachusetts now coming from places like Iceland and Norway.
Exports of other species, such as lobster, are up because of emerging markets in Asia, said Mike Tourkistas, founder of East Coast Seafood in Topsfield, Mass. Lobster exports have grown by more than $250 million since 2007, driven by growth in China.
“With lobster, we know that we have had some very big years,” Tourkistas said.