The United States' seafood deficit reached $20.3B in 2023, continuing to hold its spot in the world as the #1 importer for 11 years in a row. Over 80% of the seafood consumed by Americans is imported from other countries, and there's been a deficit for over 3 decades. The data shows that will not change anytime soon.

On our podcast episode we break down:

• Why the Norwegian Seafood Council spends 10% of their $50M budget just on the US

• America's stagnating per capita seafood demand compared to China, India, and Indonesia

• How the country's lack of aquaculture development is one of the reasons behind deficit

• The future of the AQUAA Act and complications between State vs Federal regulation of coastal waters

The Peruvian anchovy fishery opened its 2025 second season with a provisional quota of just 500,000 tons—not because the stock had collapsed, but because early surveys didn’t capture the full distribution of the biomass. A rapid-response EUREKA expedition later revised the estimate upward to 5.6 million tons, prompting the government to raise the quota to roughly 1.6 million tons. It’s still a low-biomass year by historical standards, and it comes at a time when analysts like Rabobank are warning that global fishmeal and fish oil supply is heading toward long-term structural tightness.

On our podcast episode we break down:

• Why early biomass signals were misleading, and what the EUREKA survey actually uncovered

• How Peru sets second-season quotas and why they are inherently more conservative

• What the 5.6M-ton biomass means in the context of the last 20 years of anchoveta

• How the 2023 closure and El Niño reshaped global fishmeal and fish oil markets

• What this year’s quota implies for feed prices and omega-3 availability going into 2026

The Peruvian anchovy fishery closed 2023 with one of the lowest harvest volumes (~1.2M tons) of the last 25 years. This fishery is the largest wild fishery in the world, and almost of all of it is used to make fish meal and fish oil for aquaculture. The cancelation of the first season sent prices to record highs.  But low numbers doesn't mean the fish are gone. The first season this year was canceled, and the second season had a quota of 1.6M tons set by the Peruvian government. 

On our podcast episode we break down:

• Where 2023 will sit in the history of the Peruvian anchovy fishery

• How the government sets season quotas using data and setting an exploitation rate

• Why fisherman protested in the middle of the second seasons to shut the fishery down early

• The impact of El Niño on the fishery over the last 80 years

• What this means for the fishmeal industry going into 2024