Sustainable seafood is measured in several ways: the health of fish stocks, the level of fishing pressure, the footprint of aquaculture, and the traceability of products sold to consumers. The figures below bring those measures together, with U.S. statistics generally referring to 2023, global FAO figures to 2021 or 2022, and certification figures to the reporting years stated by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).
Contents
- What U.S. stock health statistics show
- Where U.S. seafood landings come from
- Aquaculture and the U.S. seafood supply
- The global sustainability picture
- How MSC certification is scaling
- What certification looks like by species and market
What U.S. stock health statistics show
NOAA Fisheries reports that 80% of the stocks it monitors are at healthy sizes and that 92% are not subject to overfishing. These are two different measures: stock size describes whether a population is large enough, while overfishing describes whether the current fishing rate is too high. Together, they provide a useful starting point for understanding U.S. fisheries sustainability.
NOAA’s Fish Stock Sustainability Index (FSSI) covers 175 fish stocks. Those stocks represent more than 80% of total U.S. fishing catch. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, the index score was 781. NOAA first reported the index in 2005, when it included 230 stocks and had a maximum of 920 possible points. The index was revised to version 3.0 in 2020, with 175 stocks retained in the list. (Source: NOAA Fisheries: Fish Stock Sustainability.)
The index’s changing stock list matters when comparing years. A score from the current version should be read in the context of the 2020 revision rather than treated as a perfectly continuous series back to 2005. The figures still show the scale of the monitoring framework: 175 stocks cover more than four-fifths of U.S. catch, while the latest reported score is 781 out of the original 920-point maximum. (Source: NOAA Fisheries: Fish Stock Sustainability.)
Where U.S. seafood landings come from
U.S. commercial fishermen landed 8.4 billion pounds of edible and industrial fishery products in 2023, with a value of $5.1 billion. The distribution was highly concentrated geographically. The North Pacific accounted for 62.5% of U.S. commercial seafood landings, followed by the Gulf of America at 15% and the Pacific council region at 10.2%.
The remaining reported regions made up smaller shares of 2023 landings:
- Mid-Atlantic: 5.9%
- New England: 4.9%
- South Atlantic: 1.2%
- Western Pacific: 0.3%
These percentages describe shares of U.S. commercial seafood landings, not separate sustainability scores. They show why regional management and species-specific decisions are important: a single national landing total encompasses very different fisheries and ecosystems. (Source: NOAA Fisheries: Fisheries of the United States.)
Recreational fishing was also substantial. U.S. anglers took more than 204 million saltwater fishing trips in 2023 and caught an estimated 1.1 billion fish. They released 65% of their catch. Release rates do not by themselves establish the condition of every stock, but they are an important part of the national picture because sustainability includes both commercial and recreational fishing activity. (Source: NOAA Fisheries: Fisheries of the United States.)
| U.S. seafood measure | Reported figure | Period or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial fishery landings | 8.4 billion lb | United States, 2023 |
| Commercial landing value | $5.1 billion | United States, 2023 |
| Saltwater fishing trips | More than 204 million | United States, 2023 |
| Fish caught by anglers | Estimated 1.1 billion | United States, 2023 |
| Angler catch released | 65% | United States, 2023 |
Aquaculture and the U.S. seafood supply
U.S. marine and freshwater aquaculture produced an estimated 688 million pounds of seafood in 2023, valued at $1.3 billion. NOAA reports that aquaculture represented 25% of the value of U.S. seafood products that year. A separate NOAA marine-aquaculture measure says marine aquaculture accounted for 7% of total domestic seafood production by weight and 24% of the value of domestic seafood products.
The different measures are worth keeping separate. The 688-million-pound figure covers U.S. marine and freshwater aquaculture, while the 7% and 24% figures specifically describe marine aquaculture’s share of domestic production by weight and value. NOAA also reports a U.S. aquaculture landed value of $1.5 billion and says aquaculture accounts for 21% of the value of domestic fisheries landings. (Sources: NOAA Fisheries: Fisheries of the United States; NOAA Fisheries: U.S. Aquaculture; NOAA Fisheries: Marine Aquaculture.)
More than 80% of U.S. marine aquaculture production by value is made up of bivalve mollusks, including oysters, clams, and mussels. NOAA identifies oysters, clams, Atlantic salmon, red drum, and shrimp as the top U.S. marine aquaculture species in 2023.
Hatcheries are also part of the seafood-production system. NOAA says nearly one quarter of salmon caught in Alaska start life in hatcheries, while 70% to 80% of salmon caught in the Pacific Northwest start life in hatcheries. Those figures describe hatchery origin, not the share that is farmed at harvest, so they should not be treated as aquaculture production percentages. (Sources: NOAA Fisheries: U.S. Aquaculture; NOAA Fisheries: Sustainable Seafood: Seafood Industry.)
The United States remains dependent on international supply. NOAA estimates that 80% of the seafood Americans ate in 2023 came from foreign imports. Its broader marine-aquaculture figures say the United States imports roughly 70% to 85% of the seafood it eats, about half of imported U.S. seafood is farmed, and aquaculture supplies about 7% of the entire U.S. seafood supply. NOAA also reports a U.S. seafood deficit of $16.9 billion in 2020. The deficit figure is a dated estimate and should not be read as a 2023 value. (Source: NOAA Fisheries: Marine Aquaculture.)
Per-capita seafood consumption in the United States was 19.1 pounds in 2023. This consumption measure sits alongside domestic landings, aquaculture, and imports, rather than replacing them: the supply available to U.S. consumers includes seafood produced domestically and seafood brought in from abroad. (Source: NOAA Fisheries: Fisheries of the United States.)
The global sustainability picture
The global figures are more mixed than the U.S. stock indicators. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) assessed 2,570 individual fish stocks in its 2025 marine stock review. In its sustainability summary, FAO reported that 64.5% of fishery stocks were exploited within biologically sustainable levels and 35.5% were classified as overfished. The sustainability share fell from 90% in 1974 to 64.5% in 2021.
The share of landings tells a different story from the share of stocks. FAO reported that 77.2% of global fisheries landings in 2021 came from biologically sustainable stocks. This higher percentage indicates that stocks supplying more catch were, on average, more likely to be within biologically sustainable levels than stocks considered in the stock-count measure. The two percentages should not be combined or treated as interchangeable. (Sources: FAO: Fish stocks sustainability; FAO: FAO releases the most detailed global assessment of marine fish stocks to date.)
The Northeast Pacific was a stronger-performing region in the FAO review, with 92.7% of stocks sustainably fished. Across the wider global system, marine fish landings have averaged 80 million tonnes since 1995. FAO also reported that global fisheries and aquaculture production reached 223.2 million tonnes in 2022, up 4.4% from 2020. The production total covers fisheries and aquaculture, while the 80-million-tonne average refers to marine fish landings. (Sources: FAO: FAO releases the most detailed global assessment of marine fish stocks to date; FAO: Fish stocks sustainability; FAO: FAO report: Global fisheries and aquaculture production reaches a new record high.)
How MSC certification is scaling
MSC reporting provides a separate view of sustainable seafood: the scale of fisheries and products participating in its certification and labeling program. In the year to March 2024, 1.2 million tonnes of MSC-labelled seafood were sold, representing US$13.4 billion in total retail value. The number of MSC-labelled products reached 20,910 in 2023/24, compared with 8,583 in 2013/14.
The MSC’s 2024 consumer survey polled more than 27,000 consumers across 23 countries. In that survey, 48% listed overfishing among their top three ocean threats, 4 in 10 said they were making dietary changes for environmental reasons, 28% said independent certification helps protect the ocean, and 50% said they recognized the MSC label. These are survey responses, not measurements of seafood sustainability itself. (Source: MSC: Annual Report 2024 Summary.)
MSC’s 2024/25 reporting recorded 21,859 MSC-labelled products and 51,260 sites with Chain of Custody certification. MSC-labelled product sales grew 8% in volume and 4.4% in retail value in that reporting year. The program covered 16,100,767 tonnes of engaged catch, equal to 20.6% of all wild marine catch according to MSC. (Sources: MSC: MSC Annual Report 2024-2025; MSC: MSC reports and brochures.)
MSC also reports about 3 million tonnes of MSC-certified tuna landed annually, representing more than half of the global wild tuna catch. Sales of MSC-labelled tuna products rose 30% in the reported year, and tuna made up nearly one-fifth of the total volume of seafood engaged in the program. The Alaska salmon fishery has held MSC certification since 2000 and became the first U.S. fishery, and only the third worldwide, to mark 25 years in the program. (Source: MSC: MSC Annual Report 2024-2025.)
What certification looks like by species and market
MSC’s 2024/25 figures show different levels of program engagement by species group:
| Species group | Engaged catch | Share reported in MSC table |
|---|---|---|
| Whitefish | 6,674,855 tonnes | 79.8% |
| Small pelagics | 3,981,423 tonnes | 16.4% |
| Tuna | 3,052,340 tonnes | 59.2% |
| Salmon | 678,255 tonnes | 62.4% |
| Lobster | 109,138 tonnes | 37.0% |
The percentages are the figures MSC reports for each group in its table; they are not shares of the total engaged catch and should not be added together. MSC also reports that the Iberian sardines certificate covered 317 vessels: 132 Portuguese and 185 Spanish. It included 15 fisheries producer organisations from Spain and Portugal and three key associations of the Portuguese food industry. (Source: MSC: MSC Annual Report 2024-2025.)
The UK and Ireland market illustrates how certification can appear in retail. MSC says the market spent £1.7 billion on 189,000 tonnes of MSC-labelled products in 2024-25, a 14% increase from the previous year. Almost two-thirds of wild-caught fish and seafood products in UK supermarkets carried the MSC ecolabel, while supermarkets sold 948 own-brand MSC-labelled products. Fish fingers were 88% MSC ecolabelled in the UK market, and 49 different certified species were sold in 2024-25. (Source: MSC: Supermarkets see sales of sustainable seafood soar.)
Canned and jarred MSC-labelled tuna sales in the UK and Ireland rose from £24.3 million in 2020/21 to £269.1 million in 2024-25. Volume rose from 2,461 tonnes to 37,027 tonnes over the same period. MSC says consumers spent £339 million on cans, tins, and jars of MSC-labelled fish in 2024-25, a 64% increase from the previous year. In the same market, 22% of consumers said they would not buy fish unless it was sustainable. (Source: MSC: Supermarkets see sales of sustainable seafood soar.)
Sainsbury’s had 208 MSC-labelled products in 2024-25, 21 more than the previous year, and increased the share of its wild seafood range carrying the MSC ecolabel to 81%. MSC also reported that 40% of its 2023 grant awards went to fisheries in emerging economies: 26 grants totaling US$934,430 across 15 countries. Over four years, its Ocean Stewardship Fund had awarded more than 100 grants worth almost US$5 million. (Sources: MSC: Supermarkets see sales of sustainable seafood soar; MSC: Annual Report 2023 Summary.)