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Fish and Shellfish

Published: October 1, 2009
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The Mid-Atlantic region of the USA offers some of the highest quality seafood in the world. From New York to North Carolina, fishermen catch a wide range of shellfish, finfish and other wild caught seafood. In addition to wild caught seafood, the Mid-Atlantic states are home to farmed seafood such as clams, oysters, mussels and fish.

Depending on the port, Mid Atlantic states may offer shellfish including lobsters, shrimp, red crabs, blue crabs, hard clams, ocean quahog clams, surf clams, oysters, mussels, and others. Finfish of the region include cod, haddock, pollock, hake, whiting, Atlantic mackerel, winter flounder, summer flounder, yellowtail flounder, monkfish, scup, black sea bass, striped bass, white perch, weakfish, drum fish, spot, croaker, mullet, shad, red snapper, groupers, tuna, wahoo, mahi mahi, sharks and others.

New York and New Jersey are famous for several types of seafood. Boats from these northern states are within range of some of the cool water fish that are also associated with New England fishing such as cod, haddock, pollock, scup and monkfish. The states are also known for shellfish, including sea scallops, surf clams and quahogs from the open ocean and hard clams and oysters from inshore estuaries.

In the middle of the region is Delaware and Maryland, both states that border large bays. Delaware has both coastal waterfront and property along the Delaware Bay. This small state has landings of blue crabs, clams, oysters and fish. Maryland has waterfronts with access to the Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay and coastal bays. While Maryland's access to the Atlantic is limited to the port of Ocean City, its landings are important to the state. Top quality seafood passes thru the port including scallops, clams, crabs, lobsters, tuna, wahoo, mahi mahi, swordfish, sharks, flounder, sea bass, monkfish, croaker, spot, striped bass and other species.

The southern states of this region are Virginia and North Carolina. Virginia seafood is dominated by several important fisheries. From the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, commercial fishermen harvest blue crabs, oysters, striped bass, croakers, white perch, catfish and other species. From the Atlantic, sea scallops are by far the most valuable catch for the Commonwealth. Sea scallop landings make Hampton Roads Virginia among the top ports in the country in terms of income.  In addition to wild caught seafood, Virginia is known for its clam and oyster aquaculture operations which produce year round harvests of top quality shellfish. North Carolina also has important fisheries, including inshore harvests of blue crabs, oysters, clams, shrimp, summer flounder, spot, croaker and other finfish. In addition to inshore fisheries, North Carolina boats fish the offshore waters for sea scallops, mahi mahi, tuna, wahoo, king mackerel, grouper, snapper, amberjack and other species.