UNIT 1 1 



SOUTHEAST/CARIBBEAN INVERTEBRATE FISHERIES 



52 



INTRODUCTION 



Important U.S. southeast/Caribbean ma- 

 rine invertebrates include various shrimps, 

 spiny lobster, stone crab, conchs, and cor- 

 als (Table 1 1-1). The fisheries range from 

 almost nil for certain corals to extensive 

 and valuable for the Gulf shrimps. Though 

 many fisheries, such as spiny lobsters and 

 stone crabs, have only moderate value 



nationally, they are important to local 

 economies. Owing to the great differences 

 in yield, value, management, harvest tech- 

 niques, fishery area, etc., for these fisher- 

 ies, each species group must be examined 

 separately to gain a realistic perspective of 

 their status. 



Long-term potential yield (LTPY) 

 Current potential yield (CPY) = 

 Recent average yield (RAY)' = 



Table 11-1— Recent average, 

 current potential, and long-term 

 potential yields in metric tons (t), 

 and status of utilization of 

 southeast and Caribbean 

 invertebrate species. The LTPY, 

 CPY, and RAY for the unit equals 

 the sum of the species' LTPY*s, 

 CPY's, and RAY's. Where the 

 species' LTPY is unknown, the 

 species' CPY is substituted in the 

 sum. If the species' CPY is 

 unknown, the species' RAY is 

 substituted. 



126.632 t 

 120.025 t 

 120,585 t 



1988-90 average. 



Long-term potential of brown, white, and pink shrimp based upon largest observed 1f>year average annual yield 

 fields based upon commercial catches, recreational catch is unknown but may be significant. 

 Vields are in tons of claws, declawed crabs regenerate new claws 



Fishing prohibited in Florida and U S Virgin Islands. 



Coral harvests prohibited except for a small take allowed for use in aquarium and pharmaceutical industries 



SPECIES AND STATUS 

 Shrimp 



Brown, white, and pink shrimps account 

 for 89% of the total Gulf of Mexico shrimp 

 catch. In 1990 alone, these three important 

 species produced 1 1 1 ,702 1 valued at over 

 $405 million (Fig. 11-1). They are found in 

 all (J.S. Gulf waters inside 60 fathoms (fm). 

 Most of the offshore brown shrimp catch is 

 taken at 1 1-20 f m depths, white shrimp are 

 caught in 5 f m or less, and pink shrimp in 

 1 1-15 fm. Brown shrimp is most abundant 

 off the Texas/Louisiana coast; the greatest 

 concentration of pink shrimp is found off 

 southwest Florida. Current, recent, and 



long-term potential yields for these species 

 are given in Table 1 1-1. 



These shrimps have been fished com- 

 mercially since the late 1800's, at first with 

 long seines in shallow water. However, the 

 otter trawl, introduced in 1915, extended 

 shrimping to deeper waters. At first, most 

 vessels towed one large trawl, sometimes 

 120 feet wide at the mouth. Soon, a dou- 

 ble-trawl arrangement (each about 40-75 

 feet wide at the mouth) was found more 

 effective. Some shrimpers began using a 

 twin trawl system, towing four trawls, each 



