More shrimp was landed in June (11.1 million pounds) then was landed in the state in the first five months of the year combined (6.6 million pounds) – something that has not happened in Louisiana since 2007, said the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
Nevertheless, even with the one strong month, landings in the state are still 25 per cent below the historical seven-year average through the first half of the year.
Prior to the opening, June was another down month for Texas with the volume a remarkable 57 per cent below the historical average for June over the previous seven years. For the first half of 2014, the total harvest in the state of Texas is almost half (45 per cent below) the historical average from 2007-2013.
Shrimp landings in Texas have been steadily declining over the first half of the year from 2011 through 2014. The chart below shows the cascading decline in early year harvest volume in Texas over the last four years:
The same declining trend can be seen in landings for the month of June.
However, unlike Louisiana, the bulk of Texas’s harvest happens after the July opening. While landings in the first six months of the year have accounted for between 30 and 53 per cent of the total shrimp harvested in a year in Louisiana, in Texas landings through June have only accounted for between 20 and 27 per cent of the total annual harvest. There is no evidence of a similar declining trend with respect to the Texas harvest in the second half of the year. To the contrary, as shown in the table below, there was more shrimp landed in the second half of 2013 than in 2012 and these landings have been relatively consistent year after year:
Overall, the total volume of shrimp landed in the Gulf of Mexico thus far in 2014 is 25 per cent below the seven-year historical average. Consistent with the depressed harvesting volumes, dockside prices continue to be reported at high levels. The table below, taken from NOAA’s monthly report, provides dockside prices for the Eastern Gulf, Northern Gulf, and Western Gulf. The table compares dockside prices in June for various count sizes going back to 2010. As the table shows, the prices reported are – across the board – unprecedented:
