Due in part to a record low year for Louisiana, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico states suffered a below-average year for shrimp production.
Fishermen from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida’s west coast harvested just 98.3 million pounds of shrimp in 2018, according to figures from NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center. That’s down more than 2.3 million pounds from 2017 and down 22 percent from its historical average.
While Louisiana typically harvests the most shrimp, Texas ended up being the top producer for the first time since 2010, according to data managed by the Southern Shrimp Alliance. For 2018, Texas harvested slightly less than 40 million pounds, a figure that still was 2 percent down from its yearly historical average dating back to 2000.
Louisiana collected 35.4 million pounds in 2018, the state’s worst year ever, according to the alliance’s data. It marked the second consecutive year Louisiana posted a new annual low, as shrimpers harvested 37.4 million last year. The state’s annual average harvest since 2000 is about 60.8 million pounds.
However, the picture in the Gulf and Louisiana may not be as grim as the data depicts. In a statement, the SSA said the 2016 and 2017 landings data were underreported by 26 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
“The revisions have been even more substantial for Louisiana, with totals increasing in the final tally by 44 percent in 2016 and 58 percent in 2017,” the group said. “These upward revisions in the final totals are much more substantial than they had been in previous years and indicate that NOAA’s monthly reporting numbers are likely grossly understating the total volume of shrimp caught in Louisiana in 2018.”
Even when factoring the underreporting, the group acknowledged, shrimp landings still have been declining in the state.
Alabama was the only state to see an above-average landings total in 2018. The 14.1 million pounds harvested, represented a 32 percent increase over its annual average. Florida’s Gulf Coast shrimpers brought in just more than 3.9 million pounds, more than 44 percent off its yearly average, while Mississippi’s 4.9 million pounds was off by more than 27 percent.
For December, the states combined to bring in nearly 6.5 million pounds. The total represented a more than 24 percent decline from the average December, but it would have been worse without a strong month in Texas.
Texas enjoyed a near-record month. The 4.2 million pounds harvested were slightly less than the December 2005 harvest and 44.3 percent higher than the monthly average. Louisiana, meanwhile, cratered. Its shrimpers reported a record-low 1.1 million pounds, 69 percent off its average December.
Alabama’s 612,000 pounds were less than a third of what the state produced in December 2017 and 32.7 percent down from its December average. Like Louisiana, Florida’s Gulf Coast produced a record low harvest of 265,000 pounds, nearly 64 percent off its average for the month. Mississippi’s 354,000 was an increase of nearly 80,000 pounds from December 2017, but it still marked a 29 percent decrease from its average.
