U.S. Aquaculture Production

In 2016, United States commercial fishermen landed 9.6 billion pounds of seafood valued at $5.3 billion. Because wild capture fisheries are already producing at capacity, development of aquaculture resources in the United State is key to help meet the nation’s seafood needs. In 2013, the U.S. produced aquaculture products that totaled $1.4 billion in sales. This is an increase of 26% since 2005.

Three states accounted for 40% of the U.S. aquaculture sales (see Figure 4). These include Washington which produces salmon and mollusks (mussels, clams, oysters) and Mississippi and Alabama which are the leading catfish producing states.

Figure 4. Aquaculture Sales, By State, 2013

Food fish accounted for the most aquaculture products sales in 2013, totaling $732 million, an increase of 9 percent from 2005. Catfish contributed to 51% of food fish sales with a total value of $202.8 million in 2013 sales. Market-sized tilapia sales were valued at $40 million.

Table 7. Aquaculture Sales by Type of Product, 2005 and 2013 

Figure 5. United States Aquaculture Production in 2015

Table 8. Freshwater and Marine Aquaculture Production in the U.S.