NOAA recently released shrimp landings data from the Gulf of Mexico for the month of December and the full year of 2015.
In total, 8.5 million pounds of shrimp were landed in the Gulf last month, a slight drop from the 8.8 million pounds landed in December 2014 and 4.6% below the previous fifteen-year historical average for December landings (8.9 million pounds).
Although landings of shrimp in December were roughly on par with the historical average for the month, landings for the full year were significantly lower than the historical average. For the year, 106.9 million pounds of shrimp were landed in the Gulf of Mexico, the lowest total since 2010 and the third lowest total recorded over the last sixteen years. The harvest in 2015 was 18.6% below the previous fifteen-year historical average (131.2 million pounds).
The sharp decline in shrimp landed in the Gulf is primarily attributable to the drop in shrimp landed in Louisiana. The 45.3 million pounds of shrimp landed in 2015 was the second lowest volume of shrimp landed in the state since 2000, with only 2010 as a poorer year. Louisiana’s harvest last year was 29.8% below the prior fifteen-year historical average (64.6 million pounds).
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