August 28, 2019 — We’ve been writing quite a bit lately about the fledgling land-based salmon farming sector in the United States, but before we rush into predictions about the coming of a golden new age in US aquaculture, let’s take a real assessment of where things are right now with aquaculture industry we currently have.
Spoiler alert: Things aren’t good.
US aquaculture production has been on a flat to decreasing trend since the early 2000s. There are spurts of growth in various species sectors, but nothing substantial. And the heavy lifter, catfish, has been in steep decline for more than a decade.
In 2008, for example, US catfish farmers produced 233,564 metric tons of fish. By 2016, production was down by nearly 38 percent to 145,230 metric tons, according to the most recent data from NOAA Fisheries.