BARNSTABLE – The commercial and recreational fisheries in the U.S. continue to show stability according to a report released yesterday by NOAA Fisheries.
U.S. fishermen brought in 9.5 billion pounds of fish and shellfish worth about $5.4 billion in 2014.
The total catch in 2014 was down just 4 percent from 2013 although value was done about just 1 percent.
New Bedford was the port with the highest valued catch in the U.S. for the 15th straight year at $328.8 million.
“Most of that was due to the Atlantic sea scallop fishery,” said Dr. Richard Merrick, chief scientist for NOAA Fisheries. “And that accounted for about 76 percent of New Bedford’s landings.”
New Bedford landed 140 million pounds last year, which was good for ninth highest in the country.
Dutch Harbor, Alaska brought in the highest volume for the 18th straight year with 762 million pounds of fish and shellfish valued at $191 million.
The total value of Dutch Harbor’s catch was the second highest in the country behind only New Bedford.
According to the report, both the volume and value of landings in the U.S. continue to remain higher than the average for the past five years.
“We are going to continue to build resilient and sustainable fish stocks that allow our commercial and recreational fisheries industries to remain strong contributors to our nation’s economy,” Merrick said.
The New England groundfish fishery saw a decreased catch volume. Merrick said the value of the cod catch decreased from 2013 to 2014.
“But the increase in the value of the haddock landings is sufficient to more than cover up for that so there may actually have been an overall increase in value,” he said.
Recreational fishing activities remained strong as 10.4 million anglers took 68 million trips and caught approximately 392 million fish last year.
NOAA Fisheries conducted surveys to determine that 60 percent of the fish caught by recreational fishermen were returned to the water alive and an estimated 157 million fish were kept totaling 186 million pounds. Striped bass was the top catch by recreational fishermen.
The 2014 figures for marine aquaculture production in the U.S. are not available yet. Marine aquaculture production in the U.S. has been steadily increasing about 5 percent each year from 2008 to 2013.
The average American ate 14.6 pounds of fish and shellfish last year which is basically unchanged from 2013.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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