WASHINGTON – NOAA has released the 2009 edition of Fisheries of the United States.
Nationwide the total domestic commercial landings for 2009 were 7.9 billion pounds, valued at $3.9 billion. This is a decrease from 2008, when the volume was 8.3 billion pounds, with a value of $4.4 billion. Most of the decrease was due to a decline in the landings of both pollock and Pacific whiting.
The Commercial Landings section shows that for calendar year 2009, New Bedford, Massachusetts remains #1 in value and is #8 in volume. For the 21st year in a row, Dutch Harbor-Unalaska was the country's top port for total amount of fish landed. 506.3 million pounds of fish and shellfish were landed, mostly pollock.
Gloucester is #11 in value and #10 in volume.
Cape May is #5 in value. Reedville is #3 in volume.
Some of the highlights of the report are:
New Bedford remains the top US port for value of landings for the tenth year in a row.
New Bedford brought in $249.2 million in 2009, an increase of $7.9 million over the previous year. The amount of fish landed was up by 23.6 million pounds, with scallops responsible for a large part of the high value.
Gloucester's total catch value was down by $3.8 million.
Cape May's total catch value was down by $300,000.