Recent data released by the NOAA's Fishery Monitoring Branch indicates that the Gulf of Mexico shrimp industry beat historical average catches in February, but the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak is likely to dampen landings into the future.
The data indicates that 2.9 million pounds of shrimp was landed by the industry in February, well above the 2.1 million pounds landed in February 2019 and beating out the 19-year historical average of 2.8 million pounds. The majority of that, according to the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA), is thanks to Texas, which had landings of 1.5 million pounds – 36 percent above the historical average.
The landings report from Texas came at the same time as a reporting methodology change, according to the SSA. For the first time, landings in the state were reported by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
The year initially started off on a positive note, with the 5.1 million pounds of shrimp landed in the first two months of the year, sitting above the 4.5 million pounds landed in 2019 and the 4.6 million pounds landed in 2018. That number, however, is still well behind the 19-year historical average of 6.7 million pounds, according to the SSA.
That positive trend, however, is likely to change soon due to the ongoing crisis caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Shrimpers are very concerned about how COVID-19 will impact the industry,” SSA Executive Director John Williams told SeafoodSource. “We have heard from some members of the industry that sales of processed shrimp have declined substantially with the collapse in food service and restaurant business.”
News reports in the Louisiana-based Houma Today indicate that the outbreak has been hitting the local industry hard in the Gulf region.
“Sales have plummeted,” Kimberly Chauvin, of David Chauvin Seafood Company in Dulac, Louisiana, told the paper. “I think we are down about 90-something percent.”
The rapid drop in customers visiting restaurants has been devastating the foodservice industry due to mandatory or recommended closures. Initiatives such as “National Takeout Day” have been undertaken by restaurants across the country, but those efforts haven’t been able to counter the downturn.
As a result, shrimp processors are keeping product on ice to wait out the outbreak, and few are purchasing new inventory.
“If shrimpers believe that there will not be purchasers for their catch, some will stay home, and landings will be reduced,” Williams said. “We will be monitoring the landings reported by NOAA for March, April, and May to get a sense of how they compare with the industry's experience over the last two decades.”
At the same time, according to Williams, NOAA has been considering the elimination of the monthly landing reporting as a cost-saving measure, something that the industry opposes.
“Without this information, it would be very difficult for us to document if there is a change in production of shrimp because of the virus,” he said. “We would have to wait until annual numbers were published in the Fisheries of the United States, sometimes 15 months after a [fishing] year ends.”
Photo courtesy of Andrew B Hall/Shutterstock
