. . . Nearshore Fisheries 



96 



Figure 21-3.— Commercial blue 

 crab and oyster landings from 

 the southeastern U.S. coast, 

 1950-90. 



120 



— Blue crab landings 



— Oyster landings 



_J I I I I L_ 



1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 



Figure 21-4— Commercial 

 Dungeness crab and Pacific 

 shrimp landings from Oregon, 

 California, and Washington, 

 1950-90. 



. . . STATUS 



The recent annual yield of the species in 

 this unit is conservatively estimated at 

 more than 231,000 t. Table 21-1 presents 

 the best data available, though the yields 

 are probably low for many species because 

 separate landings data are not always re- 

 ported (many of the baitfishes are lumped 

 into other categories, for example). Fur- 

 thermore, data on sport catches are not 

 available for many of these species, partic- 

 ularly the invertebrates. Recreational as- 



pects of some of these fisheries are very 

 large; Chesapeake Bay sport crabbers 

 alone caught an estimated 1 9,000 t of blue 

 crabs in 1983 and 9,800 t in 1988, or 44% 

 and 32.1% of the total harvests, respec- 

 tively. Some species, such as tarpon and 

 bonefish, are sought primarily for sport and 

 usually released alive; consequently, few 

 or no landings data for them are reported 

 even though they provide significant local 

 and regional economic benefits. 



