GULF OF MEXICO 



511 



The statistics on the catch are contained in the 

 following table. Unfortunately-, the Atlantic and 

 Gulf coasts of Florida are not separable. Most of 

 the Florida catch is from the Gulf coast and the 

 Florida Keys. Out of a total catch of 281 million 

 pounds, 179 million were menhaden, leaving only 

 102 million pounds of food fish for the five States. 



Of the food fishes Florida produced 86 million 

 pounds against only 16 million for the other four 

 States. Considering the long coast line involved, 

 this is a very small fishery. 



Probably the chief problem now confronting 

 fishery biologists in the Gulf is to ascertain the 

 cause of the low productivity of the fin-fish 

 fisheries. It may be more than mere chance that 

 the greatest producing areas ai-e where the two 

 prongs of the land, the Florida and Yucatan Pen- 

 insulas, project close to the currents that flow 

 from the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf and then 

 turn eastward to flow out of the Straits of Florida. 



The important shrimp fisheries appear to de- 

 pend on nutrients from the land. The young 

 shrimp are reared in the shallow marshes, and 

 the older shrimp live on the mud bottoms, espe- 

 cially on both sides of the present Mississippi 

 Delta and on bottom that was part of former 

 deltas. 



From the accounts of the fisherj' explorations 

 and of the red snapper fisheries one gains the 

 impression that the bottom fisheries of the Gulf 

 are incapable of any large expansion. There re- 

 main then, unless further research proves other- 

 wise, two sources of possible expansion. One is 

 the tremendous potential productivity of the inner 

 bays if the problems of fluctuating salinities can 

 be solved. The other lies in the expanded ex- 

 ploitation of the pelagic fishes, especially those 

 subsisting on the plankton, such as the menhaden, 

 the anchovies, and other clupeids. Only exploita- 

 tion will tell us whether these fishes can support 

 a large catch. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Anderson, A. W., and Power, E. A. 



1950. Fishery statistics of the United States, 1947. 

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 Collier, Albert, and Hedgpeth, Joel W. 



1950. An introduction to the hydrography of tidal 

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 1 (2): 121-194, 32 figs. 



Collins, J. W. 



1887. Report on the discovery and investigation of 



fishing grounds, made by the Fish Commission 



steamer Albatross during a cruise along the Atlantic 



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Gulf fisheries. Rept. U. S. Fish Comin. 13 (1885) 



App. B. XIV: 217-311, 9 pis. 

 1892. Statistical review of the coast fisheries of the 



United States. VI. Fisheries of the Gulf States. 



Rept. U. S. Fish Comm. 16 (1888) App. 2: 271-378; 



Pt. VI: 361-378. 

 GiNSBURG, Isaac. 



1930. Commercial snappers (Lutianidae) of the Gulf 



of Mexico. Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish. 46 (Doc. 1089): 



265-276, 2 figs. 

 GowANLOCH, James Nelson. 



1933. Fishes and fishing in Louisiana. Louisiana Dept. 

 Conser. Bull. 23, 638 pp. 



GuNTER, Gordon. 



1945a. Studies on marine fishes of Texas. Pub. Inst. 



Mar. Sci. Univ. Texas 1 (1): 1-190, 11 figs. 

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guna Madre. Texas Game and Fish 3 (11): 7, 9, 



21-22, October. 



1946. Problems of the Texas coast. Texas Game and 

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Hedgpeth, Joel W. 



1947. What happens in the Laguna Madre. Texas 

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Hildebrand, S. F., and Cable, Louella E. 



1930. Development and life history of fourteen teleos- 

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 46 (Doc. 1093): 383-488, 101 figs. 



1934. Reproduction and development of whitings or 

 kingfishes, drums, spot, croaker, and weakfishes or 

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 117, 44 figs. 



1938. Further notes on the development and life his- 

 tory of some teleosts at Beaufort, N. C. Bull. U. S. 

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1935. Fishery for red snappers and groupers in the Gulf 

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 4 figs. 



KuNTZ, Albert. 



1914. Ths embryology and larval development of 

 Bairdiella chrysuia and Anchovia miichiUi. Bull. 

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1916. Notes on the embryology and larval development 

 of five species of teleostean fishes. Bull. U. S. Bur. 

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and Radcliffe, Lewis. 



1917. Notes on the embryology and larval development 

 of twelve teleostean fishes. Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish. 

 35 (1915-16): Doc. 849: 87-134, 126 figs. 



Parr, A. E. 



1937. A contribution to the hydrography of the Carib- 

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 Haven. 



