Fisheries of the United States has been produced in various forms for more than 100 years. It is the NOAA Fisheries yearbook of fishery statistics for the United States. NOAA has reported…

In 2022, estimated freshwater and marine aquaculture production was 663 million pounds with a value of $1.7 billion reflecting growth in this sector. While aquaculture only accounts for 7 percent of total domestic seafood production, the focus on high-value products means that 23 percent of the value of seafood products comes from aquaculture.

Freshwater aquaculture in the United States consists principally of catfish (329 million pounds), crawfish (197 million pounds), and trout (34 million pounds). The total volume and value of freshwater aquaculture production is estimated at 583 million pounds and $872 million, respectively, in 2022.

Marine shellfish aquaculture consists primarily of oysters, clams, and mussels. Nationally, 39.4 million pounds (meat weight) of these shellfish were produced with a total value of $318 million. While thriving shellfish industries can be found in all coastal regions of the United States, the Atlantic and Pacific coast states produce more oysters, clams, and mussels by value ($136 million and $116 million, respectively) and the Gulf states produce more by volume (15.4 million pounds).

Seaweed (also referred to as macroalgae) aquaculture is a fast-growing sector in the United States. Total U.S. farmed seaweed production in wet weight and value was estimated to be 2.1 million pounds and $1.0 million, respectively, in 2022. This represents a nearly 30-fold increase in production over the past five years (69,053 pounds of wet weight in 2017). This rapid increase in farmed seaweed production indicates promise that this sector may become an important contributor to U.S. competitiveness in global seafood production.

Foreign Trade Highlights 

To meet a strong U.S. demand for seafood, the United States imported 6.9 billion pounds of seafood products, valued at $29.7 billion. Top imported products were shrimp, salmon fillets/steaks, whole crabs, whole lobster, and whole salmon. Shrimp remains the most overall valuable import, accounting for 26 percent of the value of total edible imports. The United States also exported 2.5 billion pounds of seafood valued at $5.5 billion. The top-valued exports included: whole lobster, surimi, whole sockeye salmon, caviar/roe, and Alaska pollock fillets/steaks.

Commercial Fisheries Highlights 

Commercial landings, including edible (for human food) and industrial (meal, oil, and other non-edible uses), by U.S. fishermen at ports in the 50 states were 8.4 billion pounds or 3.8 million metric tons valued at $5.9 billion in 2022, a decrease of 223.9 million pounds (2.6 percent) and $632.2 million (11 percent) compared with 202.

Aquaculture is Growing Globally

Previous estimates from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicated that global aquaculture production (including seaweed) surpassed that of capture fisheries production in 2013.10 For 2022, FAO reported that for the first time, estimated global aquaculture production of aquatic animals (excluding seaweed) has now also surpassed that of capture fisheries. Global aquaculture production reached 118.8 metric tons, of which 85.6 metric tons are aquatic animals, 51 percent of the total aquatic animal production.

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