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 279 million dollars per year in total economic contribution during the past decade. This amount represents about 0.21 percent of the overall economic contribution of the seafood industry in the entire U.S. An average 6,400 jobs were created in Mississippi by the whole seafood industry in the same period, adding 0.54 percent to the total U.S. seafood industry.