Shrimp landings in the Gulf of Mexico are on pace for their worst year since 2002, according to data from the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA).
Through the first six months of the year, shrimpers in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida’s Gulf Coast have reported 26.5 million pounds of shrimp, said the SSA in a 23 July release. The trade group gets its data from the Fishery Monitoring Branch of NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center.
The SSA has data dating back to 2002.
The year-to-date low comes as fishermen also reported a record low for the month of June. Last month, they reported just 9.5 million pounds. That’s 42.3 percent off the historical average for the month.
And the monthly low was keyed by Louisiana reporting a record low of 3.7 million pounds for June. That’s 2 million pounds off from last year’s total for June and 61.7 percent off the historical average of 9.7 million pounds.
For more perspective on Louisiana, its total landings for 2020, about 9.4 million, would also fall below its historical June average. For the year, it’s off by 61.1 percent.
Two states did see increases from their historical averages. In Texas, shrimpers landed 3.2 million pounds, which is 9.3 percent higher than its average of nearly 3 million pounds. Texas also reported its best June since 2012 when it reported 3.6 million in landings.
Alabama saw a dip from June 2019 as the 1.5 million pounds harvested last month was about 300,000 pounds off last year. However, that total was still 30.2 percent higher than its historical average.
On Florida’s Gulf Coast, shrimpers reported 470,000 pounds. While that was about 17,000 more compared to last year, it’s about a third off its historical average of nearly 708,000 pounds.
In Mississippi, the 564,000 pounds gathered was about 40,000 pounds off from last year and 63.6 percent down from its historical average of 1.5 million.
The reports are summaries federal agents collect at ports, and the government advises that those totals may not match landing data from each state.
Photo courtesy of Bonnie Taylor Barry/Shutterstock
