NOAA’s Gulf of Mexico Data Management division has released landings data for shrimp harvested in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June. These data show that shrimp landings in June were significantly below historic norms and down compared to last year.
In total, NOAA reported that shrimpers in the Gulf landed 10.9 million pounds of shrimp in June, a figure 37.6% below the prior fifteen-year historic average for the month (17.5 million pounds), and nearly a million pounds less than the shrimp landed in the Gulf in June of last year (11.7 million pounds). Although landings in Texas for the month – 3.0 million pounds – were equal to the prior fifteen-year historic average for June and the highest since 2012, landings in Louisiana were the lowest recorded for any June in the NOAA data compiled by the Southern Shrimp Alliance. Last month, shrimpers in Louisiana landed 4.5 million pounds of shrimp, 58.0% below the prior fifteen-year historic average of 10.6 million pounds.
Generally, for the month of June, shrimp landed in Louisiana accounts for half or more of the shrimp landed in the Gulf for the month. In June 2012, shrimp landed in Louisiana (6.5 million pounds) comprised only 46.1% of total Gulf landings for the month (14.1 million pounds), but that has been the lowest that Louisiana’s share of June landings had fallen until this year. Last month, landings in Louisiana accounted for only 41.0% of total Gulf landings.
For the first six months of the year, total shrimp landings in the Gulf sit at 41.2 million pounds, the highest since 2012 (41.4 million pounds) and 6.0% below the prior fifteen-year historic average of 43.8 million pounds. Outside of Louisiana, the shrimp catch has been significantly above average thus far in 2017:
- The volume of shrimp landed in Alabama for the year, 6.1 million pounds is 95.4 percent above the historic average (3.1 million pounds) and the most ever recorded for the state;
- the 10.9 million pounds of shrimp landed in Texas is 26.4% over the historic average (8.6 million pounds) and the most since 2011;
- landings on the West Coast of Florida (4.2 million pounds) are the most since 2006 (5.9 million pounds) and are 11.3% above the historic average (3.8 million pounds);
- while the 2.7 million pounds of shrimp landed in Mississippi is the most since 2012 (3.0 million pounds) and 10.4% above the historic average.
In contrast, the 17.3 million pounds of shrimp landed so far this year in Louisiana – although higher than the volume of shrimp landed in the first six months of 2016 and 2015 – are 33.2% below the prior fifteen-year historic average of 25.8 million pounds.
NOAA reports that ex-vessel prices for 21-25 count headless shrimp and smaller were up sharply last month compared to June of 2016. In the Northern Gulf, encompassing docks in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, ex-vessel prices for 21-25 count shrimp were reported to be $4.54 per pound compared to $3.46 in June 2016; $3.55 per pound for 26-30 count shrimp compared to $2.74 in June 2016; $2.97 per pound for 31-35 count shrimp compared to $2.03 in June 2016; $2.65 per pound for 36-40 count shrimp compared to $1.77 in June 2016; and $2.25 per pound for 41-50 count compared to $1.43 in June 2016.
Please click the following link to view SSA’s compilation and summary of June 2002-2017 Shrimp Landings and Ex-Vessel Prices for June 2001-2017:
https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/June-2017-Landings.pdf