Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the top two commercial fishing ports in 2022. By volume, Dutch Harbor, Alaska, was the biggest, but by value, New Bedford, Mass was top.
According to the Kodiak Daily Mirror, a staggering 613.5 million pounds of seafood across various species was landed in Dutch Harbor in 2022. This diverse range of landings paints a vivid picture of the richness and variety of the seafood industry. Over the past 20 years, Dutch Harbor has consistently recorded the most landings by volume, a fact that speaks volumes about its importance. Empire-Venice, Louisiana, was listed as the second biggest port by volume, coming in at 489.8 million pounds of seafood.
New Bedford had landed $443.2 million worth of seafood, which has been at the top of NOAA’s revenue list for the past 20 years. The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported that 84% of the value comprised scallop landings. Naknek, AK, came in second with $298.2 million in 2022. The Mirror also shared that Kodiak has dropped out of the top five fishing ports in the U.S. in 2022 for the first time in the past 37 years.
In 2020, Dutch Harbor and New Bedford were the top ports for volume and value, which continues a more than two-decade trend driven by pollock landings in AK and scallops in MA. The top commercial species categories for 2020 were crabs ($584 million), lobsters ($563 million), scallops ($488 million), salmon ($478 million), shrimp ($435 million, and Alaska pollock ($420 million). This article will be updated as the top commercial species categories get released for 2022.
NOAA Fisheries reported that the U.S. imported 6.1 billion pounds of seafood products in 2020, valued at $21.4 billion. The top imported products were shrimp, salmon filet, whole salmon, whole tuna, and canned tuna.
