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Published: September 12, 2011
Updated: September 12, 2011
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Two vital indicators of American seafood consumption were released in September.

The National Fisheries Institute (NFI) 2010 Top Ten Seafood List highlights the 10 most consumed American seafood products. Per capita consumption in pounds is shown in parentheses:

1. Shrimp (4.0)

2. Canned Tuna (2.7)

3. Salmon (1.999)

4. Tilapia (1.450)

5. Alaska Pollock (1.192)

6. Catfish (0.800)

7. Crab (0.573)

8. Cod (0.463)

9. Pangasius (0.405)

10. Clams (0.341)

 

The NFI report follows NOAA's Fisheries of the United States 2010 which provides extensive data about American seafood consumption. According to NOAA, the average American ate 15.8 pounds of fish and shellfish in 2010, a slight decline from the 2009 figure of 16 pounds.

The U.S. continues to be third-ranked for consuming fish and shellfish, behind China and Japan. Americans consumed 4.878 billion pounds of seafood, slightly less than the 4.907 billion pounds in 2009.

While seafood consumption remained fairly consistent, the amount of imported seafood consumed by Americans continued to increase. About 86 percent of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported, measured by edible weight, up four percent from 2009.

The U.S. exports 63 percent of its domestically produced seafood, measured by live weight, which represents an increase of four percent over 2009. Almost half of imported seafood comes from aquaculture, or farmed seafood.