NOAA Fisheries’ Southeast Fisheries Science Center has released preliminary shrimp landings data for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico for 2022 September, along with preliminary catch numbers for the U.S. South Atlantic.
In the first three quarters of 2022, NOAA reported more than 75.5 million pounds of shrimp landed in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest preliminary amount since 2013. Those preliminary figures are close to the final figures from the first nine months of 2021, when 76.7 million pounds of shrimp were landed in the Gulf.
NOAA also reported an additional 6.1 million pounds of shrimp landed in the South Atlantic in 2022; NOAA started reporting preliminary landing totals in the region in March 2022.
NOAA has also revised its ex-vessel prices, and is no longer reporting prices for three areas in the western, northern, and eastern regions of the Gulf of Mexico. It now reports a single price for the entirety of the Gulf of Mexico and a single price for the South Atlantic. In response, the Southern Shrimp Alliance said it is now tracking and summarizing prices for all count sizes used by the agency (U15, 15/20, 21/25, 26/30, 31/35, 36/40, and 41/50).
A review by the alliance found that in the Gulf of Mexico, prices for all count sizes were lower in September 2022 than they were in September 2021, and for the smallest 41/50 count size the prices were the lowest they had been since "at least 2018."
The figures reported for September 2022 are preliminary, and NOAA did not release information on shrimp landings in the U.S. states of Louisiana, Georgia, or South Carolina.
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