Mississippi Seafood Processing

Seafood Processing Businesses

Seafood processing primarily corresponds to “seafood canning” and “fresh and frozen seafood processing.” It involves plants engaged in the primary wholesale and processing of seafood products.

An online list of Mississippi seafood dealers can be viewed on the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources website. Species and levels of seafood trade groups categorize the listed seafood businesses.

An online directory of registered seafood businesses is available on the Mississippi MarketMaker website. An online list of seafood-related businesses is shown when you type “seafood” in the search box.

Sales and Employment Contributions

The major seafood species processed in Mississippi include catfish, shrimp, oysters, blue crabs, and other food fish species. In addition, menhaden are processed into fish meal and oil.

The economic contributions of Mississippi seafood processing since 2006 are shown below. Output or sales are businesses' gross sales within the economic region affected by an activity. The total economic contribution consists of direct, indirect, and induced effects. The Mississippi seafood processing industry generated more than $107 million in sales contribution in 2020 (Fig. 1).

Employment or job contributions are measured as a mix of full-time and part-time jobs. The total economic contribution is the sum of direct, indirect, and induced effects. The Mississippi seafood processing industry created more than 1,200 jobs in 2020 (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. This figure shows the annual sales and job contributions of the seafood processing industry in Mississippi since 2006. The source of raw data is NOAA Fisheries (2023).

The average productivity of workers in the seafood processing industry in Mississippi can be measured by dividing total sales contributions by total job contributions. During the past five years, seafood processing in Mississippi generated an average productivity of more than $87,000 per job per year.