Commercial Fishing Industry
Mississippi Commercial Fishing
Commercial fishing corresponds to finfish and shellfish fishing in the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS). Finfish fishing comprises establishments primarily engaged in the commercial catching or taking finfish (e.g., menhaden, redfish, snapper, seatrout, flounder, mullet, and sheepshead) from their natural habitat. Shellfish fishing comprises establishments primarily engaged in the commercial catching or taking shellfish (e.g., blue crab, oyster, shrimp) from their natural habitat.
The annual Mississippi commercial landings of all species combined (in pounds) and landing values (in dollars) since 1950 are shown in the chart below. Recent natural disasters and economic events (e.g., the global pandemic) adversely affected annual commercial landings and dockside values. Annual commercial landings averaged 297 million pounds during the last five years, valued at 49 million dollars.
The average labor productivity of commercial fishing was measured by dividing the annual commercial landings and dockside values by yearly employment. The employment data consisted of all workers and owners of the commercial fishing units in Mississippi estimated by Lightcast (2023). The average fishing productivity during the past five years amounted to 213,216 pounds per fisherman, valued at 35,449 dollars per fisherman.
Output or sales is the gross sales by businesses within the economic region affected by an activity. Total economic impacts are the sum of direct, indirect, and induced impacts. The economic impacts of Mississippi commercial fishing are shown below. The annual sales impacts of the commercial fishery averaged $68.7 million during the past five years. This amount represents about 0.49% of the overall economic impacts of the commercial fishing industry in the U.S.
Employment or job impacts are expressed in terms of a mix of both full-time and part-time jobs. Total economic impacts are the sum of direct, indirect, and induced contributions. The industry created more than 1,202 full-time and part-time jobs per year in the same period. These job impacts represent about 0.75 of the overall economic impacts of commercial fishing in the U.S.
Publications
News
RAYMOND, Miss. -- For Mississippi’s commercial fishermen, stress is part of daily life, but the typical stressors they face have been intensifying for more than 10 years.
LAPLACE, La.
While the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is closing the Bonnet Carré Spillway this week, economic impacts of its months-long opening are expected to be felt in the seafood industry for years to come.
