An Approach to Determining Economic Impacts of U.S. Aquaculture

Fisheries Economics of the United Statesis produced annually by the National Marine Fisheries Serviceand provides national and state level estimates of the total economic impacts ofU.S.seafood landingsand imported seafood on theU.S.economy.However, it does not contain an estimate of the impact ofU.S.aquaculturally produced seafood. As a demonstrationof the potential for incorporating thisinformation intoFisheries Economics of the United States, we took estimates of production and value forfour aquaculture species: crawfish, salmon, oysters and clams.Using published production cost data andthe same input/output model used forFisheries Economics of the United States,weproduced estimatesof economic impacts.We make recommendations for improving the annual production and valueestimates that are used for the input/output model, and for developingstandardized industry surveyson production costs so that reliable impact estimates can be developed on an annual basis and includedas part ofFisheries Economics of the United States.