Through the first five months of the year, shrimpers in the Gulf of Mexico have caught just about the same amount of shrimp as they did last year.
According to NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center, fishermen in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida’s Gulf coast have landed just less than 17 million pounds for the first five months of the year. That’s about 11,000 pounds off of last year’s total through May.
However, the states reported just 6.7 million pounds landed for May, the second-worst May on record, according to NOAA Fisheries data archived by the Southern Shrimp Alliance. That total is also less than half of the 18-year May average of 13.6 million pounds.
Louisiana reported a May haul of 3.5 million pounds, a roughly 160,000-pound improvement from last year. Still, it ranked as the second-worst May on record for the state and more than 64 percent off the historical May average of 9.8 million pounds.
May’s landings in Louisiana were enough to put the state on pace to exceed last year’s harvest. Through the first five months, shrimpers have collected 5.6 million pounds. That’s about 800,000 more than the first five months of last year, but 58.6 percent off the historical average.
Landings in Texas dropped by more than 1 million pounds from last May, but the 2.1 million pounds harvested was only about 80,000 off the historical average for the month.
Even with that drop, Texas remains ahead of last year’s haul through the first five months by more than 400,000 pounds. The 7.4 million pounds the state has harvested so far is also nearly 25 percent higher than the historical average.
Alabama was the only Gulf state to see an above-average haul. The 870,000 pounds was about 56.7 percent higher than previous Mays and 110,000 pounds better than last year. Through May, Alabama’s haul is down by about 600,000 pounds. Still, that’s 19.6 percent above its historical average.
Florida, though, reported an all-time low of 173,000 pounds. That’s down from the 370,000 pounds caught last year and is nearly 75 percent off its historic average. Mississippi shrimpers reported just 32,000 pounds, which is about 322,000 pounds off what was reported in May 2019.
Both Florida and Mississippi are on pace for historically low seasons. The 1.3 million pounds caught through May is the lowest amount collected by Florida shrimpers and 57 percent off the historical average. The 171,000 pounds landed in Mississippi is 77.8 percent down from its average.
Photo courtesy of Leigh Trail/Shutterstock
