More than $6 million worth of various fish were landed by U.S. commercial fishermen last year at the port in American Samoa, according to the 144-page Fisheries of the United States 2013 Report, released early last week by the federal National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

According to the 2012 report, domestic landing for various fish species for American Samoa totaled nearly $10 million.

Released annually, NMFS says the reports provide data on U.S. recreational catch and commercial fisheries landings and value. In addition, data are reported on the U.S. fishery processing industry, imports and exports of fishery-related products, and domestic supply and per capita consumption of fishery products.

U.S. LANDING

The report says commercial landings — edible and industrial — by U.S. fishermen at ports in the 50 states were 9.9 billion pounds valued at $5.5 billion in 2013 — an increase of 245 million pounds (up 2.5%) and of $388 million (up 7.6%) compared with 2012.

Further, commercial landings by U.S. fishermen at ports outside the 50 states provided an additional 556 million pounds valued at $549 million. This was a decrease of 1%, or 6.3 million pounds in quantity and an increase of $18.8 million (3.5%) in value compared with 2012.

“Most of these landings consisted of tuna landed in American Samoa and other foreign ports,” it says.

TUNA LANDING

The report also says that landings of tuna by U.S. fishermen at ports in the United States, American Samoa, other U.S. territories, and foreign ports were over 611.3 million pounds valued at $695.1 million — a decrease of over 10.2 million pounds (almost 2%), but an increase of nearly $1.3 million compared with 2012.

The average ex-vessel price per pound of all species of tuna in 2013 was $1.14 compared with $1.12 in 2012, according to the report, which also says that bigeye landings in 2013 were 26.5 million pounds-an increase of 8.8 million pounds (over 49%) compared with 2012. The average ex-vessel price per pound was $3.03 in 2013, compared to $4.11 in 2012.

It also provides data landing for other tuna species such as ‘skipjack’, ‘yellowfin’ and ‘bluefin’.

AMERICAN SAMOA LANDINGS

The report also outlines data on each fish species on commercial landings for the five U.S. territories including American Samoa — whose totaling landing for 2013 totaled $6.60 million or 6.02 million pounds.

Tuna landing provided the highest numbers, totaling $6.29 million or 5.7 million pounds with $5.18 million (or 4.51 million pounds) from albacore tuna.

In the 2012 report, total landing was $9.69 million or 9.02 million pounds with tuna landing providing the highest numbers — totaling $9.27 million or 8.74 million pounds. Albacore was among the dominating species at $7.53 million or 6.91 million pounds.

Both the 2012 and 2013 reports provide data on albacore and other fish species caught around the world.

CANNED PRODUCTS

According to the report, the pack of canned fishery products in the 50 states, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico was 961.1 million pounds valued at $1.8 billion — an increase in volume of 80.5 million pounds and an increase in value of 160.5 million dollars compared to 2012.

The 2013 pack included 662.4 million pounds with a value of $1.5 billion for human consumption and 298.7 million pounds valued at $241.5 million for bait and animal food.

BACKGROUND

Definition of ex-vessel price, according to online dictionaries is “the price received by the fisherman at point of landing.” The drop in fish prices is one of the main reasons the local US longliner owners have cited as to why they need help to survive, which includes allowing them to fish within the 50-mile EEZ of American Samoa.

Reports for 2013 and previous years are on: http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/publications.html