NEW BEDFORD – The port of New Bedford has once again claimed the top spot for the value of landings of fish and shellfish, setting a new record in 2005 at $282.5 million – an increase of $75 million from 2004, according to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.
This was the sixth year in a row that the dollar value of the port’s landings increased. Dutch Harbor-Unalaska, in Alaska, ranked second, at $166.1 million, and first by volume, with 887.6 million pounds of fish and shellfish in 2005, or 1.2 million pounds more than in 2004; it was the 17th consecutive year that the port has topped the list.
The total domestic commercial landings for 2005 were 9.6 billion pounds, valued at $3.9 billion.
In a separate announcement, NOAA said Americans ate 16.2 pounds of fish and shellfish per person in 2005, a 2-percent decrease from 2004, but consumer spending on seafood increased by 5 percent, to $65.2 billion.
