ELLSWORTH, Maine — October 30, 2014 — The volume of national lobster landings and exports dropped slightly last year, but the strength of the fishery kept several Maine communities among the top nationwide for 2013 commercial fish landings, according to federal officials.
Stonington remained Maine’s top port for overall value of its commercial fish landings, which had an estimated total value of $49 million, according to the Fisheries of the U.S. report for 2013, which was released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Portland remained Maine’s top fishing port for overall volume last year with 62 million pounds of commercial fish landings brought ashore.
American lobster, which is by far the largest fishery in Maine, had a nationwide landings value of $460 million in 2013, ranking the species fifth for value among U.S. fisheries.
Of the 149 million pounds of American lobster caught in the U.S. last year, more than 127 million pounds were brought ashore in Maine, accounting for 85 percent of the nationwide catch. Massachusetts, with the second largest American lobster fishery in the country, landed 15 million pounds in 2013, or a little more than 10 percent of the nationwide total.
Maine’s commercial fish landings value total of $473.8 million for 2013 ranks it third nationwide, behind Alaska and Massachusetts. The total volume of Maine’s 2013 landings, 265 million pounds, ranks it seventh, behind all West Coast states, Louisiana and Virginia.
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