May 24, 2021 — The Port of New Bedford was the nation’s highest value port for the 20th consecutive year, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced Thursday.
The agency, better known as NOAA Fisheries, released its report with 2019 fisheries data. New Bedford brought in $451 million with 116 million pounds of seafood in 2019, up from $431 million and 114 million pounds in 2018.
New Bedford’s high value is due in large part to its scallop fishery, the report said. Sea scallop landings account for 84% of the value of landings in the city’s port.
Dutch Harbor in Alaska, which was the highest port in volume, brought in nearly 6.5 times more weight than New Bedford, but only $190 million in value.