Last week, NOAA’s Gulf of Mexico Data Management division released information regarding November shrimp landings in the Gulf of Mexico.
With 3.5 million pounds of shrimp landed last month, Louisiana had the worst production in any November recorded over the sixteen years that the Southern Shrimp Alliance has compiled data. Over the prior fifteen years, Louisiana has averaged 6.4 million pounds of shrimp harvested in November and last month’s total was 44.7 percent below this average.
For 2017, 35.8 million pounds of shrimp have been landed in Louisiana, a total that is 35.7 percent below the prior fifteen-year historic average (55.7 million pounds) and the second lowest reported since 2002.
Throughout the Gulf, shrimp landings last month (8.9 million pounds) were 26.7 percent below the prior fifteen-year historic average (12.1 million pounds), but were only slightly below what was landed in November 2016 (9.1 million pounds). At 3.3 million pounds, substantially more shrimp was landed in Texas last month than in November 2016 (2.2 million pounds) and November 2015 (2.0 million pounds), but was still 8.9 percent below the prior fifteen-year historic average (3.6 million pounds). Landings on the West Coast of Florida (0.63 million pounds) were the highest for any November since 2008 and were 5.3 percent above the prior fifteen-year historic average (0.60 million pounds).
For the year, more shrimp has been landed throughout the Gulf over the first eleven months (93.7 million pounds) than in 2016 (88.0 million pounds), but this total is still 17.9 percent below the prior fifteen-year historic average (116.0 million pounds). The large drop in Louisiana landings has been offset by a record high harvest in Alabama (13.5 million pounds) that is 44.0 percent above the prior fifteen-year historic average (9.4 million pounds) and the largest volume of landings on the West Coast of Florida (5.7 million pounds) since 2006. Landings in Texas so far this year (34.1 million pounds) are up significantly from 2016 (27.6 million pounds), but still are 8.3 percent below the prior fifteen-year historic average (37.2 million pounds).
For the third straight month, no ex-vessel prices were reported by NOAA for the eastern Gulf (the west coast of Florida). Ex-vessel prices reported for the northern (Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi) and western (Texas) Gulf were, with only one exception, down for all count sizes last month compared to November of last year.
Please click the following link to view SSA’s compilation and summary of November 2002-2017 Shrimp Landings and Ex-Vessel Prices for November 2001-2017: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/November-2017-Landings.pdf