JONKS and DRAGOVICH: UNITED STATES SHRIMP FISHERY 



TABLE 4. — Number of shrimp trawlers for the Guianas-Brazil shrimp fishery, 1961-74. The 

 figures represent the average number of vessels fishing each year. Data for 1961-69 are from 

 Naidu and Boerema (1972). 



'In 1973, 80 Venezuela-flag trawlers operated for a 6-mo period. 



2 Not available. 



3 Does not include 1 1 Cuban-flag trawlers that fished with a mothership from March to December 1974. 



distinguishable and there was no obvious bias in 

 reporting species, we considered the single species 

 to be representative of the entire daily catch, even 

 though this overestimates the more abundant 

 species. The composition of the catch for the entire 

 area, according to this method, consisted of brown 

 shrimp (70%), pink-spotted shrimp (23%), and 

 other shrimps (7%) (Figure 4). 



The geographic distribution of the different 

 species of shrimps in the fishery is a subject of 

 continuing research, but certain patterns in areal 

 distribution were apparent (Figure 4). The areas 

 off Guyana, Surinam, and western French Guiana 

 (zones 69-75) were dominated by pink-spotted 

 shrimp. Brown shrimp were listed more fre- 

 quently off eastern French Guiana and Brazil 

 (zones 76-81); white shrimp off Guyana (zones 

 69-71) and French Guiana and Brazil (zones 77- 

 80); and pink shrimp off Guyana (zones 70-71). 



We also examined the geographic distribution of 

 the U.S. -vessel catch of all species. In 1972, U.S. 

 vessels caught 36% of their catch in the Agree- 

 ment Area off Brazil and 64% off the Guianas. The 

 analogous catches for U.S. vessels in the Agree- 

 ment Area were 52% (1973) and 41% (1974) (Table 

 2). Fishing off the Guianas (zones 69-77) was 

 year-round. In the Agreement Area fishing by 

 U.S. vessels was allowed 1 March-30 November 

 (zones 78-80) and 1 March-30 June (zone 81). 



Species composition of shrimp catches as re- 

 ported by Japanese vessels 3 is in general agree- 

 ment with our observations. Japanese catches off 



3 Far Seas Fisheries Research Laboratory. 1971, 1972, 1973, 

 1974. South America north coast shrimp trawl fishing ground 

 charts, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973. Unpubl. manuscr., Far 

 Seas Fish. Res. Lab., Shimizu. 



78 



79 



81 



AIL 

 ZONES 



r- 



88 



70 



BROWN 



PINK-SPOTTED 



_i— 



40 60 



PERCENT 



80 



FIGURE 4. — Species composition by fishing zone of the shrimp 

 catches of U.S. vessels in the Guianas-Brazil fishery for the 

 period July 1972- December 1974. The data for this figure were 

 calculated as explained in the text from the fishermen's log- 

 books. 



Guyana and Surinam had higher percentages of 

 "pink shrimp" (presumably mostly P. brasiliensis) 

 than off French Guiana and Brazil. There were 

 differences, however, between our data and the 

 Japanese reports. Overall, brown shrimp were less 

 prevalent in the Japanese catches than in the U.S. 

 catches. The Japanese catch from 1969 to 1973 



707 



