Seafood Economics
Mississippi Seafood Industry
The seafood industry consists of commercial harvesting, seafood processing, seafood wholesaling, seafood and fish markets, and restaurant establishments.
- Commercial harvesting or fishing corresponds to finfish fishing and shellfish fishing. It comprises commercial fishermen using various gears onboard large vessels and small boats.
- Seafood processing primarily corresponds to seafood canning and fresh and frozen seafood processing. It involves plants engaged in primary wholesale and processing of seafood products.
- Seafood importing was added to the seafood industry, starting in 2009. It comprises establishments that buy seafood products from counties of origin outside the United States.
- Seafood wholesaling corresponds to fish and seafood merchant wholesalers. It includes secondary wholesale and processing of seafood products.
- Seafood and fish markets correspond to the retail trade of fish and seafood products.
- Seafood restaurants include the retail trade of seafood products by eating and drinking places.
Components of Economic Impacts or Contributions
The total economic impact is the sum of direct, indirect, and induced impacts.
Direct impacts express the economic impacts in the sector in which the expenditure was initially made.
Indirect impacts result from changes in economic activity of other industrial sectors that supply goods or services to the sector being evaluated.
Induced impacts are the result of personal consumption expenditures by industry employees.
Types of Economic Impacts or Contributions
Income, value-added, and output impacts are expressed in dollars for the year specified by the user. Output or sales is the gross sales by businesses within the economic region affected by an activity. Labor income includes personal income such as wages and salaries and proprietors’ income or income from self-employment.
Employment impacts are expressed in terms of a mix of both full-time and part-time jobs.
Sales and Employment Impacts or Contributions
The economic contribution of the entire Mississippi seafood industry since 2006 are shown in the figure below. Observe the significant decline in the levels of impacts resulting from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.
The entire Mississippi seafood industry generated an average 287 million dollars per year in total economic contribution during the past five years. This amount represents about 0.18 percent of the overall economic contribution of the seafood industry in the entire U.S.
An average 5,939 jobs were created in Mississippi by the whole seafood industry in the same period, adding 0.48 percent to the total U.S. seafood industry.
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.
Environmental disasters, global markets, strict fishing regulations and the increasing average age of working fishers is bearing down on the industry, threatening its long-term viability.
All of these factors have Ryan Bradley concerned for the future of the Mississippi fishing industry. So, he is taking action to help fishers stay in the industry and draw young people to the business.
LAPLACE, La. -- Heavy rainfall and snowmelt from the Midwest in 2019 led to three major firsts in the Bonnet Carré Spillway’s history, resulting in a massive influx of fresh water that caused adverse effects on marine life and seafood industries across the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
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.
