May 1, 2017

Shrimp landings in Gulf of Mexico slightly down in March, Q1

Landings of shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico in March showed a slight decline in volume of shrimp harvested this year (3.46 million pounds) compared with March 2016 (3.51 million pounds), as per the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

However, the amount of shrimp landed by fishermen in the Gulf last month was 52.1% higher than the prior 16-year historical average for the month (2.28 million pounds).

Similarly, total shrimp landings in the region for the first quarter (10.16 million pounds) were slightly below those of the first quarter last year (10.42 million pounds). However, they were 10.3% above the prior16-year historical average for the Gulf (9.21 million pounds).

In total, shrimp landings in the first quarter of the year are a small portion of annual harvests.  Over the last 15 years, shrimp landed in the first three months have ranged from 5 to 11% to the total amount of shrimp landed in the region.

Despite the relative lack of overall importance of first-quarter landing figures, the data released by NOAA showed a couple of interesting trends:

-- Landings in 2017 have been spread more broadly amongst the states, with the exception of Mississippi.  Texas (2.99 million pounds) has accounted for 29.4% of all shrimp landed in the Gulf so far in 2017, while Louisiana (2.61 million pounds) has claimed 25.7% of landed shrimp this year, Alabama (2.31 million pounds) 22.7%, and the west coast of Florida (1.91 million pounds) 18.8% of landings.

-- Ex-vessel prices for small-count sizes increased significantly in March compared with March 2016.  Ex-vessel prices for 41-50 count shrimp jumped from $1.74 per pound in March 2016 to $2.30 per pound last month in the Northern Gulf, from $1.71 per pound in March 2016 to $2.69 per pound in March 2017 on the west coast of Florida, and from $1.54 per pound in March 2016 to $3.11 per pound last month in the Western Gulf.