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August Marks Another Record Low in Shrimp Landings in the Gulf of Mexico

Last night, 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 month of August.
Last month, 10.2 million pounds of shrimp was landed in the Gulf, the lowest total reported for any August going back to 2002. Prior to this year, the smallest amount of shrimp harvested in the Gulf had been 12.3 million pounds in 2008. The volume of shrimp landed in August was 41.7 percent below the prior eighteen-year historic average of 17.4 million pounds.
With the exception of Texas, landings in every part of the Gulf last month were below where they were in August of 2019. The most dramatic decline was experienced in Louisiana. August shrimp landings in that state have averaged 6.0 million pounds during the eighteen-year period between 2002 and 2019. Last month, less than 2.0 million pounds of shrimp was landed in the state.
Through the first two-thirds of this year, NOAA indicates that 44.4 million pounds of shrimp have been landed in the Gulf, down from 48.9 million pounds over the same time period last year, and the lowest volume reported for a January to August time period over the last nineteen years.
Shrimp landings in Louisiana continue to be at historic lows, with 12.8 million pounds of shrimp harvested this year. This volume is 61.3 percent below the prior eighteen-year historic average of 33.2 million pounds and the lowest volume reported over the first eight months of the year in the last nineteen years.  Similarly, on the west coast of Florida, 2.3 million pounds of shrimp have been landed this year, the lowest volume reported for that area over the last nineteen years and 46.8 percent below the prior eighteen-year historic average of 4.4 million pounds. And in Mississippi, 2.0 million pounds of shrimp have been landed so far this year, the second lowest total recorded over the last nineteen years and 50.9 percent below the prior eighteen-year historic average of 4.1 million pounds.
Landings in Alabama and Texas, however, continue to be in line with prior historic experience. At 6.6 million pounds, the shrimp harvest in Alabama for 2020 is 2.2 percent above the prior eighteen-year historic average of 6.4 million pounds. Shrimp landings in Texas in 2020, at 20.6 million pounds, are just 5.1 percent below the prior eighteen-year historic average of 21.7 million pounds.
Ex-vessel prices for shrimp landed in the Western Gulf were reported by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, while no ex-vessel prices were reported for the eastern (Florida west coast ports) or northern (Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi) Gulf. Ex-vessel prices in the Western Gulf last month were reported to be, with just one exception (41-50), significantly lower than they were in August 2019.
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”
Please click the following link to view SSA’s compilation and summary of August 2002-2020 Shrimp Landings and Ex-Vessel Prices for August 2001-2020: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/August-2020-Landings.pdf

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