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Posted by Alan Sorum Jul 22, 2008 |
In data provided by the statistical report Fisheries of the United States 2007, Dutch Harbor-Unalaska, Alaska and New Bedford, Massachusetts are again ranked as the nation's top commercial fishing ports.
In Dutch Harbor-Unalaska, a thriving seaport located on Alaska's Aleutian Island chain, commercial fishermen landed 777.2 million pounds of seafood, mostly Alaska Pollock. This makes it the national leader in total landings for the last nineteen years. Reedville, Virginia and Empire-Venice, Louisiana were close contenders.
The port bringing in the greatest value for its seafood landings is New Bedford, Massachusetts. New Bedford brought in some $268 worth of seafood, with their primary effort focused on sea scallops. Dutch Harbor-Unalaska placed second with a seafood value $174.1 million
Nationally, commercial fisheries landings in the United States totaled 9.2 billion pounds with a value of $4.1 billion. Americans ate slightly less seafood in 2007, an average of 16.3 pounds of fish and shellfish, and nationally overall consumption was 4.908 billion pounds for the year.