SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Seafoodnews.com] — November 1, 2013 — The nation’s top fishing ports for 2012 were mostly dominated by Alaska and New England according to reported seafood volumes and values in NOAA’s 2013 edition of its Fisheries of the United States report.
In New England, New Bedford continued its reign as the most lucrative fishing port serving as the nation’s top region for scallop landings. In 2012, New Bedford’s catch was worth $411 million even as it ranked twelfth in terms of volume landed.
Source: Fisheries of the United States, 2012
As for volume, for the sixteenth straight year Alaska’s Dutch Harbor retained its ranking as the top US port for landings with NOAA reporting 752 million pounds of seafood brought into the Harbor’s docks. It should be noted that Dutch Harbor was also the second most valuable port behind New Bedford.
Staying in Alaska, Kodiak was third in landed volume and fifth in value. In fact, Alaskan ports dominated the top ten most valuable port rankings, taking 6 spots. Even outside the top 10, Alaskan ports played significant roles for domestic seafood landings. St. Petersburg, for example, ranked twenty-fourth among US ports for volume landed and twentieth for value.
Back in New England, Maine’s total seafood catch was the country’s third most valuable. The state’s $448 million in landings was primarily driven by the state’s lobster catch.
And while Alaska and New England clearly serve as major fishing hubs for the US industry, the Gulf’s Empire-Venice port was also among the top ten. The Louisiana-based port hauled in the second most seafood by volume at 500 million pounds; the value of the catch ranked seventh worth $80 million.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.