Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION OF U.S. AQUACULTURE FARMS

Ganesh Kumar*, Jonathan van Senten, Shraddha Hegde, and Noah Boldt

Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center

Mississippi State University

 Stoneville, MS 38776

gkk27@msstate.edu

 



 US aquaculture is comprised of a multitude of sectors that are diverse in terms of species raised as well as geographic distribution. The industry is comprised of major sectors such as foodfish, mollusks, crustaceans, sportfish, baitfish, ornamentals, and other miscellaneous categories.  This diverse nature in terms of species raised and geographic distribution along with the lack of farm data leads to difficulties in quantifying the true economic contribution of US aquaculture.  Based on primary farm-level information generated from recent  farm surveys, industry spending patterns along with revenues generated by these sectors were compiled to generate economic impact estimation for 2022. An analysis-by-part approach in IMPLAN was used for quantifying the economic contribution which allowed for segmenting the contribution of major sectors while quantifying the national contribution of US aquaculture. The methodology also allowed for segmenting the contribution of the US marine and freshwater aquaculture sectors. Funding from the NOAA National Sea Grant allowed for this very first effort to quantify the economic contribution of US aquaculture. This study will lay a platform for subsequent economic  impact  research  as well as allow for detail ing  the impact of macroeconomic shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic on US aquaculture.