On Friday, the Fisheries Statistic Division of NOAA Fisheries’ Southeast Fisheries Science Center released its report regarding shrimp landings in the Gulf of Mexico for July 2018.
Shrimp landings in the Gulf of Mexico last month were at 7.9 million pounds, slightly below the 8.0 million pounds landed in July 2017 and 31.3 percent below the prior sixteen-year historical average of 11.5 million pounds for the month of July.
Landings in Louisiana, reported to be 1.3 million pounds for the month, were the lowest recorded by NOAA for any July in the seventeen-year dataset compiled by the Southern Shrimp Alliance. Similarly, landings from the west coast of Florida, at 126,000 pounds, were also the lowest recorded by NOAA for any July. In contrast, landings in Alabama, at 2.2 million pounds for the month, were the highest recorded for any July in that seventeen-year dataset. NOAA reported that another 3.9 million pounds was landed in Texas in July, significantly higher than the 2.8 million pounds landed in July 2017 and the 2.0 million pounds landed in July 2016.
For the year, a total of 46.9 million pounds of shrimp have been landed in the Gulf of Mexico, down from the 49.2 million pounds landed over the first seven months of last year. In total, landings this year are 13.7 percent below the prior sixteen-year historical average of 54.4 million pounds.
Despite the low amount of catch in July, shrimp landings in Louisiana were at 19.9 million pounds for the year, the highest total since 2014. And, when Texas’s July total is accounted for, shrimp landings in that state, at 14.2 million pounds, are the highest they have been since 2011.
For the eleventh straight month, no ex-vessel prices were reported by NOAA for the eastern Gulf (the west coast of Florida). NOAA reports a substantial divergence in prices for large and small shrimp in the rest of the Gulf. Specifically, ex-vessel prices reported for U15 count shrimp in the northern (Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi) were at the highest non-inflation adjusted levels in NOAA’s reporting for any July at $9.23 per pound, while the ex-vessel prices reported for 41-50 count shrimp were at the lowest non-inflation adjusted levels in NOAA’s reporting for any July at $1.59 per pound. Ex-vessel prices reported in the northern Gulf for 26-30 count shrimp were slightly above those reported last July ($3.25 vs. $3.17). In the western (Texas) Gulf, ex-vessel prices for all three of these count sizes were below what they were in July 2017 ($8.56 vs. $9.75; $3.27 vs. $4.06; and $1.92 vs. $2.38).
Please use the following link to view SSA’s compilation and summary of July 2002-2018 Shrimp Landings and Ex-Vessel Prices for July 2001-2018: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/July-2018-Landings.pdf