NOAA report shows massive economic gains from fishing

Source: NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service
Source: NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service

In its latest report on the economic gains from fishing, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that U.S. commercial and recreational saltwater fishing generated more than $199 billion in sales in 2012 and contributed $89 billion to GDP. That’s a gain of seven percent over the previous year, which translates to a three-percent increase in fishing jobs from 2011 to 2012 — a total of 1.7 million jobs nationwide.

A second report concurrently released by the NOAA, Fisheries Economics of the United States 2012 and the Status of U.S. Fisheries 2013, included an update on U.S. fish stocks, with two returning to target levels during 2013 putting the number of rebuilt U.S. marine fish stocks to 34 since 2000.

Commercial fisheries generated $140,660,993,000 in sales during 2012, enabling 1,270,141 jobs and total revenue of $5,099,456,000. Recreational fisheries are responsible for 380,898 jobs and $58,420,792,000 in total sales. The full report is available HERE.

From the report:

Source: NOAA
Source: NOAA

“U.S. fisheries play an enormous role in the nation’s economy. When stocks are rebuilt, they provide more economic opportunities for commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishing. Rebuilt stocks also contribute to a healthy ecosystem. To continue our progress in ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks, we must ensure solid, science-based determinations of stock status and better linkages to biological socioeconomic, and ecosystem conditions. It is also increasingly important that we better understand ecosystem and habitat factors, as resilient ecosystems and habitat form the foundation for robust fisheries and fishing jobs. NOAA is investing in efforts to better understand the effects of climate change on fisheries, reduce bycatch, and focus habitat conservation resources where they can have the greatest impact.”

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