Contact: Gordon Helm FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7/29/96
Americans ate less seafood in 1995 than in 1994 - consuming 3.90 billion pounds of domestic and imported seafood in 1995, or 15.0 pounds per person. That is a slight, 27-million-pound decrease from the 3.93 billion pounds Americans consumed in 1994, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.
Officials from NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service said that the consumption level of 15 pounds per person represents a modest per capita decrease of 0.2 pound from the 1994 level. Americans have consumed approximately 15 pounds of seafood each year since 1985, and consumed a record 16.2 pounds each in 1987.
Of the average 15 pounds of seafood consumed, 10 pounds were fresh or frozen fish or shellfish, 4.7 pounds were canned seafood, and 0.3 pound of seafood was cured. Compared to 1994 figures, that represents a 0.2-pound rise in canned products, offsetting a 0.4-pound decline of fresh/frozen products.
The consumption of shrimp (all preparation) dipped slightly to 2.5 pounds consumed per person, down from the record high in 1994 of 2.6 pounds.
Imported fish and shellfish comprised 54 percent of the seafood consumed in the United States in 1995, remaining the same as in 1994. U.S. exports increased by 1 percent after two years of minor declines.
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