NEWS ARCHIVE   

U.S. seafood consumption drops in 2007

Americans ate 16.3 pounds of seafood per capita last year

Americans didn’t devour quite as much seafood in 2007 as they did the previous year.

U.S. per capita seafood consumption slipped from 16.5 pounds in 2006 to 16.3 pounds last year, the National Marine Fisheries Service reported in mid-July. It reached a record 16.6 pounds in 2004.

Shrimp consumption fell from 4.4 pounds in 2006 to 4.1 pounds last year. The drop in shrimp consumption mirrors the drop in shrimp imports. Last year, shrimp imports tumbled more than 73 million pounds, to 1.23 billion pounds.

Usually, if shrimp imports drop seafood consumption drops because shrimp imports represent nearly one-quarter of U.S. seafood imports, which account for more than 80 percent of the U.S. seafood supply.

Americans ate 12.1 pounds of fresh and frozen seafood in 2007, down from 12.3 pounds in 2006, while canned seafood consumption, which consists primarily of tuna, remained at 3.9 pounds.

Despite last year’s drop, U.S. per-capita seafood consumption is increasing gradually, averaging 16.4 pounds per capita between 2003 and 2007, compared to 15.2 pounds from 1998 to 2002 and 14.9 pounds from 1993 to 1997.

To calculate per-capita consumption, NMFS adds imports and domestic landings, subtracts exports and divides the total by the U.S. population. NMFS’ model assumes that all seafood traded in a year is consumed in the same year.

Jim Balsiger, acting assistant administrator for NMFS, used the consumption announcement to promote the National Offshore Aquaculture Act of 2007, which would establish a regulatory framework for aquaculture in U.S. waters to simplify and accelerate the offshore permitting process. — Steven Hedlund

August 2008