Three Southeast ports landed some of last year’s largest volumes of seafood in the U.S., according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report released Wednesday.
Petersburg, Ketchikan, Sitka and Juneau were among the list of several major U.S. ports. Sitka came in with the highest numbers in Southeast, landing 89 million pounds of seafood. Ketchikan landed 84 million pounds and Petersburg came in at 70 million. Juneau was included in the list, but came in with 19 million pounds, slightly above the lowest volumes.
Dutch Harbor was the highest producer for the nineteenth consecutive year with 787 million pounds.
In terms of value, Juneau came out even compared to 2014. The other three ports took a loss of $5 million or greater. Sitka took the biggest hit with a $12 million loss.
Alaska as a whole accounts for 62 percent of all seafood landed in the U.S., weighing in at 6 billion pounds last year.
That state saw a 6 percent increase in volume and 3 percent in the value of its catch. The value of the state’s catch wasn’t the largest in the country however. East Coast states accounted for 38 percent of the value of seafood in the U.S., 4 percent higher than Alaska.
Consumption of fish is also up across the country. Americans added about one pound of fish to their diet last year.
