Oregon’s commercial fishing industry landed 301 million pounds of seafood onshore worth $178 million in 2023, an increase from 2022, where 286 million pounds of seafood worth an inflation-adjusted $136 million was caught, but below the average landings and revenue of the previous five years (2018-2022) of 319 million pounds and $189 million.
The data, which was provided by the State of Oregon in July, also show that crab harvests in 2023 were 37.2 million pounds versus 4.9 million pounds in 2022. Typically, the crab season begins in December, with most of the catch occurring at the beginning of the season.
But because last year’s Oregon crab season didn’t fully open until Feb. 1, the 2022 crab harvest was incredibly low compared with historical trends. On the other hand, 2023’s crab harvest was twice as large as the previous five-year average of 18.3 million pounds.
Unfortunately, low crab prices hurt the overall revenue of the industry, resulting in a total revenue of $104 million. The average landed price per pound for Dungeness crab was $2.80 in 2023, the lowest seen since 2013’s $2.74, data show.
Additionally, salmon landings fell 18% in 2023, to 1.7 million pounds, more than the previous five-year average of 1.4 million pounds, but below the average of the 2000s and 2010s. The average price declined as well, leading to a decrease in total landed value of 32% to $5.2 million.
The long-term trend of low levels of salmon harvest continued in 2023, and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce issued a disaster declaration for the 2023 Oregon ocean troll salmon fishery.
The state’s 2023 pink shrimp harvest was 44 million pounds, an increase of 7% from 2022, and above the average of the previous five years.
“Unfortunately, shrimp prices fell to 42 cents per pound in 2023, their lowest level since 2010,” the State of Oregon Employment Department said in a statement. “Even with the higher landings, the overall revenue was essentially unchanged from 2022 at $18.7 million.”
Oregon pink shrimp was certified as a sustainable fishery by the Marine Stewardship Council in 2007 and reassessed as sustainable in 2011.
Data also show that the state’s amount of whiting landed fell for the fourth year in a row, dropping 3.7% in 2023 to 164 million pounds. Whiting accounted for 60% by weight of all wild seafood landed in Oregon, but it has a low value. The price, 9 cents per pound, was equal to the five-year average leading to a total landed value for this fishery of $14.9 million.
Much of Oregon’s whiting is made into surimi for use in making artificial crab meat, while the carcasses are used to make fishmeal.
The value of groundfish landed, pacific whiting excluded, decreased 13% in 2023 to $26.3 million. This represented a total landing weight of 47.7 million pounds, a decrease of 4.7% from 2022. The average price fell five cents to 55 cents per pound.
Oregon’s albacore tuna harvest declined in 2023 to its lowest level since the early 2000s. Just 2.45 million pounds of albacore were landed in Oregon in 2023, the lowest volume since 1991. Prices also dropped, averaging $1.44 in 2023 leading to a total revenue of $3.5 million.
Smaller fisheries also had some changes. Pacific halibut landings totaled $1.6 million with a weight of nearly 269,000 pounds, state figures show, while razor clams decreased from a peak in 2022 to 18,000 pounds harvested in 2023 with a value of $235,000.