According to the report North Carolina commercial seafood landings was increased by 13 percent in 2008, bolstered by the best hard blue crab harvest since 2003. It is also mentioned that the rise ends a previous five-year decline for the state’s seafood industry. The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ Trip Ticket Program indicates that of the 71.2 million pounds of seafood sold to dealers last year, nearly half, or 32.9 million pounds, were hard blue crabs.
It is mentioned that hard crabs also contributed $25 million to the $87 million total dockside value of seafood in 2008, a $4 million increase from the 2007 total. Alan Bianchi, the state Division of Marine Fisheries’ Commercial Statistics program manager, informed although crab pot trips were down from last year, the winter crab trawl fishery was very good, contributing to the increased landings of hard blue crabs compared to 2007.
The shrimp harvest went down by 1 percent, but the landings were still 64 percent higher than the previous five-year average. Bianchi opined that in the shrimp fishery, the high fuel prices during the fall likely led to the decline in the number of shrimp and skimmer trawl trips in 2008. Oyster harvest shows a rise of 5 percent, as well, from 83,446 bushels to 88,008 bushels.
On the other hand commercial finfish landings decreased by 9 percent to 27.6 million pounds. This included a 59 percent drop in yellowfin tuna harvests, a 30 percent drop in swordfish harvests and a 17 percent drop in bluefish harvests. But in the tilefish landings there was a significant increase. Doug Mumford, the state Division of Marine Fisheries’ recreational statistics program manager, said that there was a decline in for-hire and private boat trips, but an increase in shore and pier fishing.
