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Through the First Five Months of this Year, Shrimp Landings in the Gulf of Mexico Similar to Last Year

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 month of May.

Through the first five months of this year, NOAA reports that the volume of shrimp landed in the Gulf of Mexico (17.0 million pounds) is roughly the same as the volume of shrimp landed in the Gulf from January to May 2019 (17.0 million pounds). While close to last year’s totals, the overall volume of shrimp landed in the Gulf is one-third less than the historical average from the prior eighteen years (25.4 million pounds).

The decline in shrimp volumes reflects a change in where that shrimp is reported as being landed. Through the first five months of this year, NOAA reports that just 5.6 million pounds of shrimp has been landed in Louisiana, an amount that is 58.6 percent below the historical average of 13.6 million pounds normally landed in the state during this time period.  While 5.6 million pounds is the second smallest volume of shrimp landed in Louisiana over the last nineteen years, the 1.3 million pounds reported by NOAA as landed on the West Coast of Florida and 171,000 pounds reported as landed in Mississippi are the lowest volumes of shrimp landed in those states between January and May over the last nineteen years.

At the same time, the 7.4 million pounds of shrimp landed in Texas, as reported by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, is almost a quarter higher than the historical average of 5.9 million pounds of shrimp landed over the prior eighteen years, while the 2.5 million pounds of shrimp landed in Alabama, as reported by NOAA, is almost a fifth higher than the state’s historical average of 2.1 million pounds for the first five months of the year.

In May, shrimp landings in Texas (2.1 million pounds) were well below what they were in May of last year (3.2 million pounds), as they were on the West Coast of Florida (173,000 pounds in 2020 versus 370,000 pounds in 2019) and in Mississippi (32,000 pounds in 2020 versus 354,000 pounds in 2019). But in Louisiana (3.5 million pounds in 2020 versus 3.3 million pounds in 2019) and Alabama (870,000 pounds in 2020 versus 760,000 pounds in 2019), more shrimp was landed last month than in May of 2019.

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) Gulf and ex-vessel prices were reported for only three count sizes (15/20; 21/25; 26/30) for the northern (Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi) Gulf. For the Western Gulf, the ex-vessel prices for large shrimp (U15; 15/20; 21/25) were substantially below what they were reported to be in May 2019, while ex-vessel prices for smaller shrimp was reported to be higher (26/30), the same (41/50), or lower (31/35; 36/40) than those reported in May 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 May 2002-2020 Shrimp Landings and Ex-Vessel Prices for May 2001-2020: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/May-2020-Landings.pdf

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