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Culinary

What Percent of US Seafood Is Imported?

About 91% of US seafood is imported, because the country's aquaculture output has not kept up with demand, ranking outside the top 10 worldwide. The majority of US seafood is farm-raised rather than wild-caught in order to keep up with growing demand. The most-imported types of seafood in the US are shrimp from Asia; Atlantic salmon from Chile, Norway and Canada; and tilapia from China and Honduras.

More about US seafood:

  • The US is the second-largest consumer of seafood after China, and Americans eat about 2 million tons of seafood each year.

  • As much as 32% of imported seafood in the US is estimated to have been caught illegally.

  • More than half of the seafood consumed in the US is either shrimp, canned tuna or salmon.

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Discussion Comments

By RoyalSpyder — On Jun 10, 2014

The last bullet point does bring up something very interesting. I've never thought about it much, but most people in the US who eat seafood *do* seem to associate themselves with tuna, salmon, and shrimp. However, I guess you could say I'm not particularly surprised. Most seafood is pretty expensive in general, and tuna, salmon and shrimp are rather easy to find, especially at a local grocery store.

By Chmander — On Jun 10, 2014

In relation to this article. I've been to Red Lobster before, and it's not hard to tell that most of the food (if not all of it) is farm-raised, and even processed in some cases. Based on my personal experience, a lot of the food is slathered in butter as a means to cover up the bland taste and rather small portions. I wonder if I can find some authentic seafood restaurants in my area.

By Hazali — On Jun 09, 2014

Wow, I'm surprised to hear that most of the U.S. seafood is farm-raised, which changes my opinion on the whole ordeal just a bit. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy seafood just as much as the next person. However, I feel that farm-raised foods tend to have much less of a flavor than the "wild" type. Does anyone else agree?

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