Products | Fresh and Frozen | Pink Shrimp

Pink Shrimp

(Pandalis Borealis)
(Pandalis Jordani)

Physical characteristics: Also known as ocean or salad shrimp, "Pinks" are the world's most commercially important coldwater species. Pinks are one of the smallest species of shrimp. The largest rarely exceed 5 inches. Pinks are hermaphrodites, spending their first 1 1/2 years as males and then turning into females.

Major catch areas: Alaska, Canada's West Coast, East Coast South to Martha's Vineyard, Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Greenland and Iceland.

Seasonality: Season is April through October. Frozen product is available year-round.

Harvest Method: Pinks are harvested using Trawl nets of fine mesh at a depth of 280 feet and deeper. A trawler will stay out fishing for 3 to 5 days and will catch between 10,000 and up to 50,000 pounds per trip.

Product Forms:
• Fresh: Pink shrimp are cooked and peeled and sold in 5# bags, tubs, or cans.
• Frozen: IQF is the most common form. The shrimp are graded for size. Most common sizes are 150/250, 250/350, 300/500, and 500/up. These numbers represent counts per pound. They are then packed 4-5# bags to a case.

Flavor/Texture Profile: Pink shrimp has a firm texture and a sweet flavor. Shrimp are great as a topper for salad (Shrimp Louie) or by themselves with a little cocktail sauce (Shrimp Cocktail).

Notes: Most (if not all) of the production of pink shrimp from Alaska and the West Coast of the United States is single-frozen, meaning it is cooked, peeled and frozen IQF. Virtually all of the pink shrimp caught off Greenland, Iceland and Eastern Canada are double-frozen. This means the product is caught and frozen whole, then taken to the shore-side plants for cooking, peeling and IQF freezing. East coast, Iceland, and Greenland pink shrimp (Pandalis Borealis) can grow much larger than West Coast Pink shrimp (Pandalis Jordani). Eastern shrimp also have a tendency to have a slight metallic (iodine) after-taste due to the feed they consume.