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 on board 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 involves establishments which 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
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 which 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
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 Economic Impacts
The economic impacts of the entire Mississippi seafood industry since 2006 are shown in the figures below. Observe the significant decline in the levels of impacts resulting from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.
The entire Mississippi seafood industry generated $199 million total economic impacts in 2014. This amount represents about 0.13 percent of the total economic impacts of the seafood industry in the entire U.S.A. In addition, more than 4,700 jobs were created by the entire seafood industry in the same year.
Publications
News
BILOXI, Miss. -- Mississippi State University researchers and Extension Service agents heard suggestions from Coastal area agricultural producers and industry leaders about the research and education they need from the university in 2017.
The MSU Coastal Research and Extension Center Producer Advisory Council meeting was held on Feb. 28 in Biloxi. The annual meeting helps the university allocate time and resources to the most important issues facing Mississippi's agricultural producers and related industries.
BILOXI, Miss. -- Wild-caught shrimp contribute millions of dollars to Mississippi’s economy each year, and experts say better flavor gives them a competitive advantage over imported and pond-raised shrimp.
Dave Burrage, Mississippi State University Extension Service fisheries specialist, said consumers who participate in blind taste tests tend to prefer the taste of wild-caught Gulf shrimp over that of pond-raised, imported products.
BILOXI, Miss. -- Selling directly to the public takes longer, but it allows fishermen to make some profit from a shrimp season that has been below average so far this year in Mississippi.
Dave Burrage, commercial and recreational fisheries specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said shrimp landed in Mississippi have been small through mid-June.
BILOXI, Miss. -- Mississippi fishermen remain intent on harvesting this year’s shrimp crop in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico despite low prices and a season paused and restarted.
Dave Burrage, Mississippi State University Extension professor of marine resources at the Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi, said the shrimp season first opened June 3, closed June 19 when shrimp were too small, and then reopened July 13.
“This season has been an anomaly so far,” Burrage said.
MISSISSIPPI STATE – The shrimp are slightly bigger, but prices are down, making this year’s season-opening in Biloxi comparable to last year’s start.
During the first two weeks of the 2012 season, 1.137 million pounds of shrimp were landed in Biloxi. In the same time in 2011, 1.124 million pounds were landed at the same port.
Shrimp season began May 30, and 210 boats went out for the opening day. To date, the bulk of the production has been medium, 36- to 40-count shrimp, a reference to the number of shrimp needed to make a pound.
Contact Your County Office
Related Material
Your Extension Experts
