Oregon’s Commercial Fishing in 2024
September 16, 2025Oregon’s commercial fishing industry landed 263 million pounds of seafood onshore worth $182 million in 2024. This was a decrease in volume from 2023, where 301 million pounds of seafood was caught, but equal to 2023’s inflation-adjusted value of $182 million was caught. Landings volume and revenue in 2024 was below the averages of the previous five years (2019-2023) of 317 million pounds and $188 million.
Individual Fisheries
Crab harvests in 2024 were 23.9 million pounds versus 37.2 million pounds in 2023. Typically, the crab season begins in December, with most of the catch occurring at the beginning of the season. Because of the late start to the 2022-2023 crab season, 2023 crab harvests were very high compared with historical trends. However, 2024’s crab harvest was still higher than the previous five-year average of 21.1 million pounds. Fortunately, crab prices rebounded from their lows in 2023, resulting in a total revenue of $99.5 million. The average landed price per pound for Dungeness crab was $4.16 in 2024, just shy of the previous five-year average of $4.27.
Salmon landings increased 7.5% in 2024, to 1.8 million pounds. This was more than the previous five-year average of 1.6 million pounds, but below the average of the 2000s and 2010s. The average price increased as well, leading to an increase in total landed value of 29% to $7.3 million. The long-term trend of low levels of salmon harvest continued in 2024, and Oregon’s governor requested the U.S. Secretary of Commerce issue a disaster declaration for Oregon’s salmon fisheries in 2024.
The pink shrimp harvest was 49 million pounds in 2024, an increase of 12% from 2023, and 22% above the average of the previous five years. Shrimp prices averaged 54 cents per pound in 2024, their highest level since 2019. With higher prices and higher landings, revenue from Oregon shrimp increased by 42% to $26.6 million. Oregon pink shrimp was certified as a sustainable fishery by the Marine Stewardship Council in 2007 and reassessed as sustainable in 2011.
The amount of whiting landed fell for the fifth year in a row, dropping 18% in 2024 to 135 million pounds. Whiting accounted for 51% by weight of all wild seafood landed in Oregon, but it has a low value. The price, 11 cents per pound, was 2 cents higher than the five-year average leading to a total landed value for this fishery of $14.7 million. Much of Oregon’s whiting is made into surimi for use in making artificial crab meat, while the carcasses are used to make fishmeal.
The value of groundfish landed, pacific whiting excluded, decreased 17% in 2024 to $21.9 million. This represented a total landing weight of 44.4 million pounds, a decrease of 6.9% from 2023. The average price fell five cents to 49 cents per pound.
The albacore tuna harvest rebounded in 2024 to 5.0 million pounds, 9% higher than the previous five year average of 4.6 million pounds. Prices increased from 2023 to $1.67 per pound leading to a total revenue of $8.3 million, but were lower than the previous five-year average of $1.81 per pound.
Employment
An estimated 1,217 commercial fishers (excluding tribal fishing) worked in Oregon on an annual average basis in 2024. This was a slight increase (+5) from the number of fishers in 2023, but very similar to the annual average of fishers in Oregon since 2020. It had been about 100 to 200 higher in the 2010s.
Estimating employment in fishing is more difficult than measuring the harvests. Legislation in 1999 allowed most fishers to be exempt from unemployment insurance coverage – the primary source of employment data. The Oregon Employment Department now estimates the number of fishers based on a combination of survey data and the number commercial fish landings made in Oregon. This method was new for 2014 and resulted in a lower employment estimate than before. Oregon vessels or crews making landings outside of Oregon are not included in these estimates of employment in Oregon.
The estimated number of fishers in 2024 varied from a high of 1,523 in May to a low of 414 in November. Fishing employment often peaks in the summer, but the past couple years have shown a subdued summer season and a peak in the spring. Five coastal counties – Clatsop, Coos, Curry, Lincoln, and Tillamook – had 95% of the total employment, based on where landings occur. Perhaps even more surprising is that non-coastal Jefferson County had any commercial fishing employment. These jobs are sometimes based on crayfish harvests.
The most important fisheries for direct employment are crab, albacore, pink shrimp, and salmon. The estimates of employment by species represent the minimum number of people in that fishery on an annual basis. Landings are counted by only the most valuable species landed that trip. Oregon’s largest fishery by volume, Pacific whiting, was the sixth largest by direct employment, but whiting is very important for the processing industry and its employment. Commercial fishers harvested about 84 different species in 2024.
Revenue
The number of fishing vessels has certainly declined from historic highs. It has become somewhat more stable since the late 1990s, but still fluctuates by a couple hundred. The past seven years have been a period of declining numbers of vessels. Fishing began generating more revenue per boat after the turn of the century, albeit with plenty of fluctuations. There were 812 vessels with at least one landing in 2024, up from 796 in 2023. They averaged about $224,000 each in landed value in Oregon in 2024, down by 2.2% from the previous year. Each vessel supported about 1.5 workers on an annual average basis; many vessels have landings only part of the year.
In addition to direct employment, commercial fishing provides the resource for seafood processors. There were 1,352 jobs in the industry in 2024. Records show that there were 36 seafood processors in Oregon that had employees in 2024. This is less than the number of seafood processors in 2023, but equal to a previous high point in 2019. Some processors also use temporary help firms to round out their staffing, but these employees are counted in the business services industry. The processing industry paid more than $59 million in wages in 2024, which clearly shows the benefit of adding value to raw natural products.