Weighed down by historic low totals reported by Louisiana and Alabama, shrimpers in the Gulf of Mexico produced a record low harvest for October, according to data released last week by NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center.
The 10.4 million pounds collected last month marks the third straight October that Gulf fishermen have reported a record low. According to the Southern Shrimp Association, which has tracked data since 2002, the Gulf has produced an average of 14.8 million pounds of shrimp in October.
The lows hide what was a successful month for shrimpers in Texas and Mississippi. Texas fishermen produced more than half the month’s total harvest, and the 5.6 million-pound haul represented a nearly 10 percent increase from its historical average.
Meanwhile, Mississippi saw its most successful October in four years, collecting 582,000 pounds. That harvest was an 8.5 percent increase from its historic average.
However, those modest highs could not offset the steep lows recorded in Louisiana and Alabama.
For Louisiana – historically the Gulf’s leading shrimp producer – only 3.6 million pounds were harvested in October. That represents a 53.4 percent drop from the state’s 16-year average October haul. It’s also roughly 1.3 million pounds worse than the previous October low, which occurred last year.
Alabama harvested just 625,000 pounds for its worst October ever, eclipsing the 701,000 pounds fishermen gathered in October 2010. Despite that, the state is still on pace to produce a record crop for the year. More than 12.4 million pounds have been collected through the first 10 months of 2018, a pace that would give the state its second consecutive record-breaking year.
Florida shrimpers did not report any Gulf landings for October.
For the year, Texas has surpassed Louisiana¬ for the year-to-date total for the first time since 2010. Texas has collected nearly 32.5 million pounds of shrimp, compared to Louisiana’s 31.2 million.
Across the Gulf, the 83.5 million collected for 2018 is 17.3 percent lower than the historic average of nearly 101 million pounds. The Gulf has not produced a 10-month total greater than 100 million pounds since 2011.
Pricing data shows mixed results. Texas shrimpers report pricing for U15 ex-vessel pricing at approximately USD 9.80 (EUR 8.63), up from nearly USD 9.00 (EUR 7.93) in October 2017. Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi fishermen, representing the Northern Gulf, saw prices decline from USD 7.75 (EUR 6.83) in October 2017 to USD 7.26 (EUR 6.39) last month.
October Ex-vessel pricing for 26-30 rose slightly in both the West and Northern sectors. In Texas, the price rose from about USD 3.65 (EUR 3.21) last year to USD 3.70 (EUR 3.26) this year. In the Northern Gulf, the price rose from USD 3.04 (EUR 2.68) to USD 3.26 (EUR 2.87).
