Shrimpers in the Gulf of Mexico harvested nearly 2.5 million pounds last month, according to data from the NOAA Fisheries Statistics Division released last week. While that haul was slightly above the historical average for the month, it continues to be held down by aberrant figures coming from Louisiana.
For the first quarter of 2018, the 7.6 million pounds of shrimp caught in the Gulf represented a more than 18 percent decrease from the 17-year average of 9.3 million pounds, according to a statement by the Southern Shrimp Alliance. It’s also a nearly 3 million pound drop from last year’s total, when 10.3 million pounds were harvested.
The organization attributed the drop to “an incredibly poor” quarter reported by Louisiana, which reported just 773,000 pounds for the first three months.
The state’s average was 3.1 million pounds, and for the past 17 years, it had reported first quarter landings of at least 2 million pounds each quarter.
“The change in the composition of shrimp landings in the Gulf of Mexico this year is striking,” the group said. “Over the previous seventeen years, the commercial shrimp catch in the Gulf has been lead, in terms of volume, by the state of Louisiana.”
In March, Louisiana shrimpers caught just 207,900 pounds of shrimp, by far the lowest of the four Gulf states that reported. Texas reported landings of 988,500 pounds, Florida’s west coast fishermen took in 844,700 pounds, while Alabama harvested 442,800 pounds.
While the landings are down, shrimp prices are up dramatically. The ex-vessel price for shrimp in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana is USD 9.32 (EUR 7.63), a 52.3 percent jump from last year. The price in Texas, USD 10.07 (EUR 8.25), is up more than 63 percent from last year’s figure.
Deborah Long, an SSA spokeswoman, told SeafoodSource that first quarter landings typically represent no more than eight percent of the overall annual catch.
On 24 April, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries opened another portion of state waters for shrimp fishing. With the opening of the area between Atchafalaya River Ship Channel to the Freshwater Bayou Canal, all state waters outside the three-mile line are now open for shrimp harvesting.
“According to the most recent data collected by LDWF biologists, small white shrimp which have over-wintered in these waters from December through the present time have reached marketable sizes and the closure is no longer necessary,” the LDWF said in its release.
All waters inside the three-mile line remain closed at this time.
