Information about the abundance of most species of fish is based on rela- 

 tive measures, e.g., changes in commercial catch. The only consistent annual 

 commercial catch statistics available are those collected by the National Ma- 

 rine Fisheries Service. Changes in commercial catches require careful analy- 

 sis. For example, production declines for several years do not necessarily 

 reflect an actual decline in the abundance of the species. Although a decline 

 in catch may simply be caused by a decline in fishing intensity, catastrophic 

 declines or long term trends usually become clearly apparent. 



THE SHRIMP INDUSTRY 



Characteristically, the abundance of shrimp in Florida varies widely 

 among the years. As with most estuarine-dependent species, the availability 

 and productivity of nursery grounds generally is the major limiting factor of 

 abundance; consequently, shrimp abundance is more accurately related to habi- 

 tat loss or alteration than to overfishing. 



The high cost of fishing is the shrimp industry's major problem. Fuel 

 costs have risen rapidly over the last several years and the cost of each 

 pound of shrimp produced has increased several times. Imported shrimp from 

 Mexico are price competitive because fuel prices there are government con- 

 trolled at relatively low levels. Now the market price per pound of shrimp in 

 Florida greatly exceeds that of red meat and often even exceeds the price of 

 high quality cuts. High costs have reduced consumer sales; almost 80% of all 

 shrimp in the United States are sold to restaurants. These economic problems 

 are creating demand for additional controls on the industry, such as limited 

 entry (e.g., restrictions on the number of fishennen). By reducing the num- 

 ber of shrimp boats (which now exceed the numbers necessary to catch the 

 available shrimp), individual catches would increase and retail prices proba- 

 bly would drop. Limited entry would require major legislation and would have 

 far-reaching effects. In some states limited entry often creates as many 

 problems as it solves. Limited entry will be discussed further in a later 

 section. 



Another major problem of the beleaguered shrimpers is the incidental 

 catch of threatened and endangered species of marine turtles. Turtles are 

 caught in shrimp trawls during normal operations and drown if held underwater 

 by the net long enough. Emotion over this problem is so high that some people 

 have suggested that the shrimping industry should be closed. The shrimp in- 

 dustry is taking steps to keep the mortality of turtles at a minimum. The 

 shrimpers have agreed that when trawling in an area where turtles are abun- 

 dant, trawling time will not exceed 90 minutes. Most turtles taken in that 

 time should still be alive and can be returned to the water unhanned. The 

 National Marine Fisheries Service is experimenting with net designs that usu- 

 ally will not catch turtles. Recent design advances in the excluder trawl 

 look '^ery promising and large scale testing is planned. These nets have other 

 advantages as well. By excluding large amounts of trash and other debris of 

 unwanted species (such as some types of jellyfish and undersized species of 

 sport and commercial species), they reduce drag, increase catch potential, and 

 perhaps save fuel . 



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