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Topic Overview (Summary of NOAA data & products related to Fisheries)

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NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is responsible for the stewardship of the nation's living marine resources and their habitat. Using the tools provided by the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), NOAA's NMFS assesses and predicts the status of fish stocks, ensures compliance with fisheries regulations and works to reduce wasteful fishing practices.

More specifically, NMFS is responsible for the management, conservation and protection of living marine resources within the United States' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of water (i.e. 3 to 200 miles offshore), which covers an area of 3.5 million square miles. This includes Arctic to tropical marine habitats, which makes it possible to farm an wide range of different aquatic species (NOAA Aquaculture Program, 2008). Research has also determined that less than 500 km² (i.e., less than 0.01% of the U.S. EEZ) would provide the area to produce at least 600,000 metric tons of additional aquaculture farmed seafood per year (Nash, 2004; NOAA Aquaculture Program, 2008).

To increase the understanding of living marine resources populations the NMFS has recently implemented the Fish Stock Sustainability Index, which was designed to capture information on the many managed marine species. This population assessment measure covers 230 fish stocks and 237 stocks of threatened, endangered, or depleted species, for a total of 467. By the end of 2006, more than a third of the 467 stocks had adequate assessments, up slightly from 2005 results. In addition, NOAA's FishWatch helps consumers to identify the status of fishery stocks and understand the management and science in building and maintaining sustainable fisheries.

The commercial marine fishing industry contributed $34.2 billion in value added economic benefits to the U.S. Gross National Product. In 2007, the total export value of edible and nonedible fishery products was $20.1 billion, an increase of $2.3 billion compared with 2006. United States firms exported 2.9 billion pounds of edible products valued at $4.0 billion a decrease of 97.9 million pounds but an increase of $26.7 million compared with 2006. Exports of nonedible products were valued at $15.8 billion, $2.3 billion more than 2006. Americans consumed 16.3 pounds of seafood per person in 2007, up from 12.5 pounds in 1980 (NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, 2007).