US Fish consumption on the increase

Odd Grydeland The average US consumer ate 16.5 pounds of fish and shellfish in 2006, up from 16.3 pounds in 2005. There were 298.2 million people living in the US in 2006. That means a total consumption of approximately 2.2 million tonnes of seafod in 2006. During the period from 2005 to 2006, domestic production of commercial finfish and shellfish dropped from 9.7 million million pounds to 9.5 million, and imports increased by 5% to 11.5 million pounds. Exports of fish from the US is mainly in the form of canned Alaskan salmon, and total amount of US seafood exported declined from 8.4 million pounds in 2005 to 7.7 million in 2006.