Shrimpers in the state of Louisiana, U.S.A. got a bit of good news last week when the state announced it would open a portion of its waters for harvesting.
Fishermen set out on 2 April after the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries reopened a portion of the state’s waters between its inside/outside line and the three-mile line south of Terrebonne Parish. State scientists reviewed data showing small white shrimp have reached sizes suitable for market, which prompted the decision.
Other areas past the inside/outside line, except for an area west of the Atchafalaya River channel, have been open for shrimp harvest.
The short notice surprised some fishermen, who prepared their boats over the Easter weekend to take advantage of the opening.
“The shrimp don’t work on anyone’s schedule,” David Chauvin told the Thibodaux Daily Comet. Chauvin, who owns three seafood-related businesses in the area, sent more than a dozen boats out in the newly opened waters Monday.
The reopening comes at a time when shrimp landings have been down significantly. According to information from NOAA, only 378,600 pounds of shrimp were landed in January. Louisiana previously averaged landings of nearly two million pounds in January for the previous 16 years.
“Prior to this year, the lowest total previously recorded for landings in January was 1.2 million pounds in 2010,” the Southern Shrimp Alliance said in a statement.
NOAA’s Gulf of Mexico totals for February did not include any data from Louisiana because not enough dealers reported landings. It marked the first time in the 18 years the SSA has tracked that the state did not have a report.
Those 2018 figures continue a downward trend for the state. Its December 2017 landings, which totaled just 1.6 million pounds, were more than two million pounds off its previous average and the lowest December haul since at least 2000, according to the SSA. Its overall 2017 harvest of 37.4 million pounds also was the lowest annual total since SSA started tracking data, almost 40 percent off from its average.
Most of the state’s waters remain closed for shrimp fishing. The spring season for those areas, which are mostly inshore, will be discussed at a state commission meeting next month.
