Despite a 10 percent decline in annual revenue, the fishermen at New Bedford’s port once again took in more money than those at any other in the U.S. last year, according to statistics released today by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The value of landings of fish and shellfish at the port of New Bedford was $241.3 million in 2008, down from $268.9 million the previous year, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service said in its annual report on the nation’s fishing industry.
It was the ninth year in a row that New Bedford’s fishermen had the most lucrative combined catch in the country. As usual, sea scallops were primarily responsible for the high value of the port’s landings, and the decline in revenue at the port last year was mostly due to a drop in scallop prices.