THE FUTURE OF U.S. SEAFOOD SUPPLY

Abstract

The United States today imports most of the seafood it consumes. Half of these imports are from aquaculture. Domestic wild capture production is limited and U.S. aquaculture production has declined in recent years. Policy, socioeconomic, and regulatory obstacles stand in the way of expanded U.S. aquaculture production. In this article, we examine the implications of two future paths for seafood supply: an increasing reliance on imports, and a shift toward increased domestic aquaculture production. We examine global trends, likely future developments in U.S. seafood demand and supply, and implications of the path of U.S. aquaculture development for U.S. seafood supply and prices, employment, ecological footprint, and seafood supply security and safety. We conclude with recommendations for a path forward that serves the interests of the nation and the global community in the search for economically sound and sustainable ways to feed a growing population.

Keywords:

• aquaculture
• aquaculture economics
• aquaculture policy
• seafood supply

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The content of this article is based in part on a symposium co-sponsored by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Morss Colloquium Program and NOAA's Office of Aquaculture entitled “Economic Implications and the Role of U.S. Aquaculture in the Future U.S. Seafood Supply,” May 24–25, 2011. We thank all of the participants for their contributions. We also acknowledge the helpful suggestions of two anonymous reviewers. The views expressed in the article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the institutions they represent.

Notes

Seafood production and consumption is variously reported in terms of either “live,” “whole,” or “round” weight (the weight of unprocessed seafood, as landed at the dock), or “edible” weight (meat or fillets actually consumed). Conversion rates vary across species; typical edible meat or fillet yield for finfish is 50–70%. In this article, we use whole/live weight equivalent for all statistics, unless noted otherwise in the text.

All tonnage figures in this article are metric tons; we omit “metric” in the text for the sake of brevity.

This article is not subject to US copyright law.