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2021 Begins with Historic Levels of Shrimp Landings in Texas, Highest Volume of Shrimp Landed in the Gulf of Mexico Since 2012

This morning, the Fishery Monitoring Branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries’ Southeast Fisheries Science Center released shrimp landings data from the Gulf of Mexico for the first month of the new year.

In January, 4.1 million pounds of shrimp were landed in the Gulf of Mexico, up from 2.8 million pounds in January 2020 and 2.4 million pounds in January 2019. The volume of shrimp landed in the region last month was the highest total reported since 2012, when 4.9 million pounds were landed in January. Overall, the total was 6.5 percent above the prior nineteen-year historical average of 3.9 million pounds for the month.

Landings in the state of Texas accounted for over 60 percent of all shrimp landed in the Gulf last month. At 2.5 million pounds, the volume of shrimp landed in Texas shattered numbers from January in previous years, with the next highest total being 1.7 million pounds in 2009. January landings in Texas were 168.9 percent above the previous nineteen-year historical average of 0.9 million pounds.

Historically, January has not been a significant harvest month for shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico, generally accounting for between 2 and 5 percent of the total annual harvest.

Ex-vessel prices for shrimp landed in January in the western Gulf for all count sizes were reported by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, but were not reported in the eastern Gulf (Florida west coast) or in the northern Gulf (Alabama, Louisiana, & Mississippi). For the western Gulf, the reported ex-vessel prices last month were significantly lower than prices for the same count sizes reported in January of 2020.

As in past months, NOAA’s monthly reporting of shrimp landings in the Gulf of Mexico continues to include the following disclaimer:

“BE ADVISED THAT THE SUMMARIES IN THIS REPORT ARE COLLECTED OR ESTIMATED BY THE FEDERAL PORT AGENTS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE LANDINGS FROM THE STATES”

As previously noted, the numbers reported – and the ex-vessel prices that have not been reported – throughout the last couple of years by NOAA appear to indicate that port agents may have been unable to collect information in the same manner as they have done historically.

Please click the following link to view SSA’s compilation and summary of January 2002-2021 Shrimp Landings and Ex-Vessel Prices for January 2001-2021 in the Gulf of Mexico:  https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/January-2021-Landings.pdf

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