Gulf fishermen reported harvesting nearly 11.1 million of shrimp in June, according to data from NOAA Fisheries’ Southeast Fisheries Monitoring Center.
While last month’s tally was a slight improvement on last year’s total of 10.8 million, it’s 33.6 percent lower than the 17-year average tracked by the Southern Shrimp Alliance. The last time shrimpers recorded a harvest greater than the current 16.7 million pound average happened in 2013.
In all, it continues to be a bleak year for Gulf fishermen as the six-month tally of 28.6 million pounds is 34 percent off the historical average and 9.4 million pounds less than last year. It’s also the second-lowest yield since the SSA began tracking in 2002, only the 2010 harvest was lower at this point.
“Although landings volumes appear to have recovered somewhat in June, for the year, the commercial shrimp harvest remains substantially below previous years,” the SSA said in a statement.
For June, Louisiana caught 5.7 million pounds of shrimp. It was a marginal decrease by about 30,000 pounds from June 2018, but 43 percent off the 10 million pound average for June. The last time Louisiana eclipsed that mark was in 2014.
The state continues to be on track for its worst year since the SSA began collecting data in 2002. At 10.5 million pounds Louisiana shrimpers are 57.7 percent below their historical average for the first six months of the year. They are also more than 1 million pounds off their previous low, which occurred in 2010.
Texas saw a marginal increase of about 35,000 pounds from June 2018 with its 2.5 million pound harvest last month. That total was 15.1 percent off its historical average for the month.
For 2019, Texas has harvested 10 million pounds, which is 13.1 percent above average.
Alabama enjoyed its second best June since 2002, according to the SSA’s tracking. The 1.8 million pounds harvested represented a 200,000 pound increase from last June and a 66.4 percent jump from its 17-year historical average.
While down more than 700,000 pounds from this time last year, Alabama’s year-to-date harvest of 4.9 million pounds is still 43.2 percent better than its 17-year average.
Mississippi recorded just 608,000 pounds, 62.1 percent off its historical average for the month. It’s also the state’s worst June harvest since 2010 and second worst since 2002.
The state’s June statistics nearly mirror its year-to-date totals. The 1.1 million pounds collected for the year is also the lowest since 2010 and second worst overall. It’s also 52.9 percent off the historical average.
Florida’s West Coast shrimpers reported 453,000 pounds. That’s up 264,000 pounds from last June, but it remains 37.3 percent off the historical average.
At just more than 2 million pounds through June, it’s the worst Florida’s Gulf Coast year-to-date harvest through June since the SSA began tracking. It’s also 46.9 percent off its historical average.
Photo courtesy of Andrew B. Hall/Shutterstock
