US seafood trade deficit reached $20.6 billion in 2024, imports nearly six times exports

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released three annual reports on October 30, 2026: the Status of US Fisheries Resources 2025, US Fisheries 2024, and US Fisheries Economics 2024. The reports show that in 2024 US commercial fishing, seafood trade and recreational angling together generated $321 billion in sales and supported about 1.7 million jobs nationwide.

Commercial fishing and related activities remain a major contributor to coastal economies. In 2024, US commercial landings totaled 7.7 billion pounds (about 3.5 million tonnes), valued at $4.9 billion; counting the entire related industry chain, the sector supports about 1 million jobs and generates $175 billion in sales, $44 billion in income and $70 billion in value added. Recreational angling also brings considerable returns, supporting about 685,000 jobs, generating $146 billion in sales and contributing $78.9 billion in value added.

Despite the scale of its catch, the United States remains highly dependent on imported seafood. In 2024, US seafood imports were $25 billion and exports were $4.4 billion, for a trade deficit of $20.6 billion, down 1.4% from the previous year. By volume, the United States imported 6.4 billion pounds of seafood, nearly three times the 2.3 billion pounds exported.

By species, shrimp accounted for the largest share of US seafood import value at 24%, while whole lobster ranked first among export species. US per capita seafood consumption was 18.4 pounds per year.

Faced with reliance on external supply, aquaculture is seen as one direction for supplementing domestic supply. In 2024, US farms produced 561 million pounds of seafood, about 254,500 tonnes, with a value of $1.3 billion. This scale of production remains limited relative to US consumer demand and import volumes.

Beyond economic and trade indicators, the Status of US Fisheries Resources 2025 report documents changes in resource management and recovery. NOAA currently monitors 522 fish stocks or stock complexes. In fiscal year 2025, the agency completed 173 stock assessments and, with advances in scientific research, determined the status of two fish stocks or stock complexes for the first time.

The number of fish stocks listed as overfished fell from 23 to 15. Of the 372 stocks with fishing status data, 96% are not overfished. This indicator reflects fishing pressure on resources and is not equivalent to a decline in stock size. On resource decline, the number of fish stocks listed as depleted remained at 42; of the 265 stocks with assessment data, 84% showed no resource decline. Since 2000, the United States has rebuilt 52 fish stocks.