Last year was another above-average year for fishing and seafood consumption, with the average American adding nearly an extra pound of seafood to their diet, according to the annual Fisheries of the United States report released yesterday by NOAA.
Across the nation, U.S. fishermen landed 9.7 billion pounds of fish and shellfish valued at $5.2 billion, a volume and value similar to recent years. The highest value U.S. commercial species were lobster ($679.2 million), crab ($678.7 million), shrimp ($488.4 million), salmon ($460.2 million), and Alaska (walleye) pollock ($441.7 million).
By volume, the nation’s largest commercial fishery remains Alaska (walleye) pollock, which had landings of 3.3 billion pounds (up 4 percent from last year), trailed by Atlantic and Gulf menhaden, which accounted for 1.6 billion pounds (up 29 percent).
The West Coast of Florida did very well in 2015. Metric tons were up 12.5 percent, dollars 11 percent:
| 2014 | 2015 | ||
| Metric Tons | 28875 | 32493 | 0.1252 |
| Million dollars | $171.57 | $190.59 | 0.1109 |