SIC 2091 Canned and Cured Fish and Seafoods

Contenidos

• NAICS CODE(S).
• INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT.
• BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT.
• CURRENT CONDITIONS.
• INDUSTRY LEADERS.
• FURTHER READING.

SIC 2091

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in cooking and canning seafood products such as fish, shrimp, oysters, clams, and crab or in curing seafood products by means such as smoking, salting or drying. It also includes manufacturers of seafood soups, chowders, stews, broths, and juices. Establishments primarily engaged in preparing fresh fish or shucking and packing fresh oysters in unsealed containers are classified in SIC 2092: Prepared Fresh or Frozen Fish and Seafoods.

NAICS CODE(S)

311711

Seafood Canning

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

The value of U.S. canned fish and seafood industry shipments increased from $830 million in 1998 to $1.23 billion in 2002, according to U.S. government statistics. The industry enjoyed modest growth, partly due to the high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet fads of the early 2000s and partly due to the positive health news regarding Omega-3-rich seafood. On the downside, the industry continued to be plagued with negative news such as that involving overfishing and trapping of non-targeted species to the point of extinction, and high levels of pollutants found in some harvests, including methyl/mercury and lead.

Of the 16.3 pounds of seafood consumed per capita in the United States in 2003, canned seafood accounted for at least 4.2 pounds. For the first time in industry history, canned tuna consumption fell below that of shrimp, which became the most popular seafood in the United States. Per capita salmon consumption increased slightly between 2000 and 2003. During the same time period, consumption of both sardines and shellfish remained the same.

BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT

Fish curing is one of the oldest industries in North America. Even before permanent European settlements had been established, fishermen were harvesting cod and other species off the northeastern coastline of the North American continent. Fish were preserved and prepared for marketing by salting. According to Roy E. Martin of the National Fisheries Institute, "As early as 1580 more than three hundred ships from Europe were salting cod in this area."

New England colonists depended on salted cod and smoked herring for food and as trade items. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, cured fish products made major contributions to the economies of New England and eastern Canada. Disputes over fishing rights and restraints on trade contributed to the political climate leading up to the Revolutionary War. Martin, writing in The Seafood Industry, stated, "The English Parliament in 1775 prohibited the New England colonies from trading directly with foreign countries and prevented New England vessels from fishing on the banks off Newfoundland, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and on the coasts of Labrador and Nova Scotia where they had been accustomed to fishing. This restriction meant ruin to the New England fish-curing industry, and the edict was one cause of the Revolutionary War."

Another type of preservation, pickling, was also used commercially with fish and mollusk products through the 1800s. Pickled and cured fish products continued to be major industries until the processes were gradually supplanted by canning technology and by innovations enabling fresh and frozen seafood products to be delivered to inland markets.

During the early years of the nineteenth century, the first canned seafood products appeared in the United States. Initial offerings included salmon, lobsters, and oysters. Of these three, the most popular, and first to be canned on an industrial scale, was the Chesapeake Bay oyster. Canning technology enabled the sale of oysters to those living inland who had previously been unable to purchase them. As canning technology improved, other...