NOAA Fisheries has now released official landings data for U.S. commercial fisheries covering calendar year 2024. These data confirm the incredible damage caused to the U.S. shrimp industry by the massive influx of cheap, farmed shrimp imported into this country over the last four years.
According to the federal agency, 158.9 million pounds of shrimp were landed in the Gulf of America and South Atlantic last year with a total commercial value of $257.9 million. As shown in the table below, this is by far the lowest amount of shrimp harvested in these regions since 1961.
Last year’s commercial shrimp landings were 25 percent below the volume of shrimp harvested in 2023, when the American shrimp industry caught 210.8 million pounds valued at $269.1 million. And the landings reported by NOAA Fisheries for both 2023 and 2024 were much, much lower than the commercial shrimp fishery’s historical experience. Over the previous decade, spanning from 2013 to 2022, shrimpers in the Gulf and South Atlantic landed an annual average of 232.7 million pounds of shrimp worth $476.9 million.
The only sliver of positive information in NOAA Fisheries’ reporting is that after sharp declines in the average per pound value of landed shrimp in both 2022 ($1.83 per lb.) and 2023 ($1.28 per lb.), values recovered somewhat in 2024, increasing by 27 percent from 2023 to $1.62 per lb.
These data confirm that the sharp drop in U.S. market prices for shrimp caused by the flood of cheap imports caused fishermen to tie up their boats as they were unable to obtain income sufficient to cover costs.
Although a couple of states (North Carolina and South Carolina) saw higher landings in 2024 than 2023 and another couple of states (Alabama and Mississippi) experienced shrimp landings roughly in line with historic averages, stunning declines were reported for shrimpers in Texas, Florida, and Louisiana.
The volume of shrimp landed in Texas during 2024 was the lowest amount ever reported by NOAA Fisheries for the state over the last seventy-five years. As shown in the table below, the only level of landings similar to the 42.7 million pounds reportedly harvested by Texas shrimpers last year were the 45.8 million pounds of shrimp landed in 1950.
And in Florida, the commercial shrimp landings reported by NOAA Fisheries for 2024 were the second lowest ever recorded for the state. As shown in the table below, the federal agency reported 15.4 million pounds of shrimp landed in 2007, the only total for Florida lower than the 15.8 million pounds of shrimp harvested last year.
For Louisiana, NOAA Fisheries reported that less than 60 million pounds of shrimp was landed in the state last year. Prior to 2024, the last time that less than 60 million pounds of shrimp was landed in the state of Louisiana was fifty years ago in 1975.
NOAA Fisheries’ data confirm what shrimpers have suffered every day—collapsing prices have forced boats across the Gulf and South Atlantic to tie up instead of work,” said John Williams, Executive Director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “Our industry has lost half its value, and we are grateful for President Trump’s actions to confront the underlying harm from cheap, contaminated, and unfairly traded foreign shrimp.
“American importers continue to claim that cheap, contaminated, unfairly-traded foreign shrimp is not the root cause of the devastation experienced by the U.S. shrimp industry over the last two years. But NOAA Fisheries’ landings data confirm what our industry has been saying – low prices in the marketplace forced shrimp boats throughout the Gulf of America and South Atlantic coastline to tie up and not work,” said John Williams, Executive Director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “This commercial fishery has seen half of its value disappear due to the import onslaught. In response to the severity of our circumstances, every shrimper in this country is grateful for the steps President Trump is taking to meaningfully tackle unfair trade.”
Review NOAA Fisheries’ Fisheries One Stop Shop (FOSS) commercial and recreational fishing landings database here: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/foss/f?p=215:200::::::