Shrimp seasons are biological, not calendar: the agency opens them when the shrimp reach market size, which moves with the weather. One state writes its opening day into statute; the other sets it by commission vote a few weeks ahead.
State by state
Each block is one rule as the agency writes it, with the calendar band underneath. Where a state runs the same species on two different calendars — inshore against offshore, one peninsula against the other — both are here, because that is exactly the distinction people get wrong.
Louisiana LDWF
Inside waters
No date to look up. The Wildlife and Fisheries Commission sets the dates by area, usually a few weeks ahead.
In general the spring brown shrimp season runs from around May to July and the autumn white shrimp season from mid-August to mid-December, with some waters staying open into January. In 2026 the Commission opened the fall inshore season at 6 a.m. on August 17 west of South Pass and at 6 p.m. the same day in the stretch between South Pass and the Atchafalaya. Outside waters are open all year except for a closure from around late December to April or May to let small white shrimp grow.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
South Carolina SCDNR
Shrimp baiting
The season “is set by law to last 60 days and opens at noon on the last Friday on or before September 15”. Because that is a formula and not a date, it moves by a day or two every year, and it is worth reading twice: the last Friday on or before the 15th, so a season can open as early as September 9. A shrimp baiting licence is required and it is separate from a saltwater licence.
Cast nets and seines, no bait
Different fishery, different rules. Brown shrimp show in the tidal creeks from early June and white shrimp from late July or early August, moving out to the ocean by late October. This is a biological window rather than a legal one — the baiting season is the one with dates attached.
Read on 2026-09-14 from South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
How to read these dates
A season date is one of four things, and confusing them is how people end up on the water on the wrong day. Some are fixed and will be the same next year. Some are written as a rule — a weekday rather than a date — and we calculate those for 2026 from the regulation instead of copying a figure that goes stale. Some do not exist until the agency announces them, and no amount of searching will produce next season's date early. And some states simply do not close a season for this species, managing it with sizes and limits instead.
On this page 2 of the rules fall into the last two groups, and their calendar band is left empty on purpose. An empty band means nobody has published a date, which is different from the season being shut — and a page that paints both the same colour is telling you something it does not know.
Questions
When is shrimp season?
It depends entirely on the state: Louisiana is set each year by the agency, South Carolina is september 11, 2026 to november 10, 2026. There is no national shrimp season, and the dates below are the ones each agency publishes.
Can I keep shrimp outside the season?
No. Where a season is closed, harvest is closed, and in several states the water stays open for catch-and-release. Sizes and bag limits apply on top of the season and are listed per state above.
Why does this page not give a date for every state?
Because 2 of the rules listed here are not published as dates at all. The agency either sets them each year or regulates the fishery with sizes and limits instead of a calendar. Publishing a made-up window for those would be the easiest thing on this page and the most dishonest.
Compiled and checked by Pablo Ruiz Quintero. Dates move: tell us if one has and it goes in the verification log.