The Vineyard Gazette’s total paid circulation declined slightly this year, following a trend that has seen newspapers around the country lose circulation.

Total average paid circulation for the Gazette in 2011 was 8,823; in 2010 the number was 9,063. A circulation statement is published on Page Nine-A in today’s edition; the statement is required by the United States Postal Service for all paid circulation newspapers. The statement includes average paid circulation for subscriptions and vendor sales both in and out of county. Sold on the newsstand and through mail subscriptions, the Gazette is circulated throughout the United States and in several foreign countries.

Owned by Jerome and Nancy Kohlberg of Edgartown and Mt. Kisco, N.Y., the Gazette publishes once a week in the off-season and twice a week from early June to September. A black and white seven-column broadsheet, the newspaper has published continuously for 164 years and is printed at the Gazette office in Edgartown.

Gazette publisher Jane Seagrave said this week that the circulation statement provides a snapshot but not the whole picture.

“We saw a slight decline in paid print circulation this year, but that’s been the trend nationally with paid-circulation newspapers,” she said. “What these numbers don’t show is a double-digit increase in traffic to our Web site over the same period. Clearly, there’s a huge market for the Gazette’s journalism on all kinds of digital devices — computers, laptops, tablets and cell phones. We’ll continue to produce the old broadsheet right here on the Vineyard as long as we have readers and advertisers who still love newsprint. But we’re also focusing on creating new and complementary products for the increasing number of people who now like to access news online.”