The Crest 7 Virginia Trends

By Tom Murray The growing success of the Relative Growth in Value of Virginia’s Landings Understandably, recent attention fishery is good news to Virginia’s on the traditional commercial industry and economy. It is significant industry in Virginia has focused on the that the fishery has recently prospered, status of the and blue in part, by virtue of a harvest manage- fisheries. Both are subject to exten- ment regime jointly fostered by sive evaluation and management Virginia’s scallop industry and govern- efforts to rebuild and stabilize stocks. ment, led by scientists at VIMS. The Those concerned with the well-being use of special-area management zones of Virginia’s and fishing to optimize fishing grounds, along with industry often wonder if there is any improvements in harvest-gear effi- “good news.” ciency, have combined to create this There are, indeed, positive indica- success story. tors of the status of commercial This stands in stark contrast to the fisheries in Virginia, important to the recent past. When Virginia first Commonwealth and nation, that entered the offshore sea scallop fishery perhaps somewhat mitigate the in a significant manner two decades Non-Scallop Landings prevailing view of continued declining ago, the prospect for failure was quite Sea Scallop Landings and a receding fishing clear. Based on overcapitalization— industry. which stemmed from over-harvesting First, how does Virginia compare during the 1970s— a once viable What the harvesting and unloading fleet had unloaded nearly half again as these days with other states in com- fishery was thought by many at the of this volume of seafood products many sea in terms of value; mercial fisheries? time to be “about over.” means to Virginia (besides the obvious almost $40 million of scallop meats, As a measure of fishing activity Recent trends in the harvest of sea financial contribution of the catch to primarily in the Hampton Roads area. and ranking of major commercial scallops suggest a different prospect harvesters) is a welcome boost in During 1994, the economic contri- fishing ports, the Hampton Roads, for the future and an increasing economic activity for at least a part of butions of the scallop fishery ranked Virginia Area ranked 7th in the value of importance of this sector to the state. the state’s traditional seafood infra- third among all species landed in the catch landed among all U.S. ports, Preliminary data provided by the structure. Viewing the growth in Virginia (behind blue and menha- according to recently summarized data Virginia Marine Resources Commis- scallop-related business since 1994 den). Given the significant increase in from NOAA Fisheries.1 Interestingly, sion indicate that last year Virginia provides a convenient timeline with poundage and continued strong scallop last year New Bedford, Massachusetts landed 81.8 million lbs. of and which to update some earlier economic prices, it is likely that sea scallops are landed the highest value of fishery shellfish valued at $89.1 million. impact estimates. currently the most important fishery in products among all U.S. ports. Bolster- Those totals included 9.4 million pounds Virginia’s Commercial Fishing Virginia, in terms of certain economic ing the commercial fishery values both of sea scallop meats valued at $39.8 Industry: “Its Economic Perfor- impact measures such as income.3 here and in Massachusetts were sea million, for an average dockside price mance and Contributions,” a 1994 Simply expanding the impact scallops – one of the “bright spots” in of $4.23 at the boat level. In total, study completed by VIMS economist figures from the 1994 study, it is an otherwise troubled commercial about 40% of the entire value of James Kirkley, used primary economic estimated that the direct economic . Virginia’s wild-harvested seafood surveys and input/output modeling to impacts of the fishery in 2000 were 2 landings came from scallops. ascertain the business activity associ- $66 million in economic output and $43 ated with sea scallop harvesting, million in income generated. Estimat- processing, marketing, and distribution. ing the associated secondary (“indi- Growth in Virginia’s Sea Scallop Landings and Value 1994-2000 In fact, all of the state’s commercial rect”) economic impacts to firms fisheries were evaluated in that study, selling supplies and other inputs to the and it still offers considerable truth seafood businesses, and third-round about the current state of Virginia’s (“induced”) impacts from households wild fisheries. re-spending the income earned in the In the year studied (1994), industry direct and indirect sectors on other unloaded 6.1 million pounds of sea goods in Virginia, the total economic scallops in Virginia with an ex-vessel output arising from Virginia’s scallop value of $26.6 million. As indicated industry today exceeds $125 million. above, at the end of 2000, Virginia’s Finally, the expanded value and impact suggest that the earlier estimate of 1,900 employment equivalents stem- ming from the scallop industry is still a reasonable estimate. In view of this, 1 Fisheries of the U.S. 2000. U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA, NMFS efforts to maximize the value of the 2 When including industrial fishery () offshore fishery for the benefit of landings at Reedville, Virginia, the total harvest for 2000 was 448.6 million pounds worth $118.6 Virginia are to be considered good million ex vessel. NMFS. news. Scallop Meats Landed (Lbs.) 3 During 1994, blue crabs and industrial finfish (menhaden) were estimated to be the largest in Scallop Landed Value ($) terms of total economic output to the State.