On Tuesday, the Fishery Monitoring Branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries’ Southeast Fisheries Science Center released preliminary shrimp landings data from the Gulf of Mexico for July 2022, as well as revised shrimp landings data for June 2022. In addition, NOAA continued its release of preliminary shrimp landings data from the South Atlantic, a practice begun in March 2022.
As with the agency’s reporting since July of last year, the numbers released by NOAA for landings in the Gulf in July include substantial revisions to the agency’s initial preliminary reporting of shrimp landings in previous years. These revisions reflect changes to past preliminary reporting such that they now reflect the actual, final shrimp landings data ultimately reported by the states. Because the figures reported for the month of July 2022 are preliminary in nature, the Southern Shrimp Alliance has continued to present these data in the historical context of the agency’s past initial reporting of preliminary figures. This means that in the summary charts prepared by the Southern Shrimp Alliance, the historical figures for the month of July in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 do not correspond to the numbers now being reported by NOAA. Instead, the figures reflect the initial preliminary reporting of NOAA made at the time.
The data released by NOAA did not include any information regarding shrimp landings on either the west or east coast of Florida or in South Carolina for the month of July. However, the incomplete data indicates that at least 5.5 million pounds of shrimp were landed in the Gulf of Mexico, and another 0.9 million pounds were landed in the South Atlantic in July.
Over the first seven months of 2022, nearly 50.1 million pounds of shrimp was landed in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest preliminary amount reported for Gulf shrimp landings over that time period since 2013. In addition, at least another 3.1 million pounds of shrimp were landed in the South Atlantic.
Revisions to the shrimp landings data preliminary reported for June indicate that much of the surge in volume within the commercial shrimp fishery can be tied to Louisiana, where nearly 7.5 million pounds of shrimp were reported as landed in June. Through the first seven months of this year, NOAA preliminarily reports that over 24.0 million pounds of shrimp have been landed in that state, significantly up from both preliminary and final reports for the first seven months over the previous three years.
NOAA has revised its reporting of ex-vessel prices, such that the agency no longer reports ex-vessel prices for three different areas of the Gulf of Mexico (Western, Northern, and Eastern). Instead, NOAA now reports a single ex-vessel price for the entirety of Gulf of Mexico and, separately, a single ex-vessel price for the South Atlantic. As the result of the simplification of NOAA’s reporting, the Southern Shrimp Alliance will now track and present prices for all count sizes used by the agency (U15, 15/20, 21/25, 26/30, 31/35, 36/40, and 41/50).
A review of the ex-vessel pricing data for the month of July indicates that in the Gulf of Mexico, ex-vessel prices for all count sizes were reported to have been lower in July 2022 than in July 2021. For three count sizes – 21/25; 26/30; and 31/35 – the ex-vessel prices reported for July were the lowest reported for that shrimp since at least 2018.
Please click the following link to view the Southern Shrimp Alliance’s compilation and summary of July 2002-2022 shrimp landings in the Gulf of Mexico, July 2018-2022 shrimp landings in the South Atlantic, and ex-vessel prices for July 2018-2022 in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/July-2022-Landings.pdf
Please click the following link to view the Southern Shrimp Alliance’s revised compilation and summary of June 2002-2022 shrimp landings in the Gulf of Mexico, June 2018-2022 shrimp landings in the South Atlantic, and ex-vessel prices for June 2018-2022 in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/June-2022-Landings-REVISED.pdf