to the shrimp fishermen. Through time, the oystermen has learned to live with all his 

 problems. In 1913, there were at least 1,700 people involved in Louisiana's oyster 

 industry (Hart 1913). Today, there are more than 2,000 liscensed oystermen, each of 

 whom pays a small lease fee to stake out an oyster bed. In 1912, there were almost 7,000 

 ha (17,000 acres) leased to oystermen (Hart 1913). Currently, there are more than 80,000 

 ha (200,000 acres) involved in the fishery (Dugas 1977). 



The industry is thriving, but its future will depend, in part, on the environmental 

 changes taking place along the coast. The distribution of the oyster depends on the 

 salinity content within the estuarine and nearshore areas. Salinity in many of the 

 interdistributary basins is increasing as a result of the coastal deterioration that has 

 accompanied land subsidence and canalization (Chapman 1968; Barrett 1970; Morgan 

 1972; Davis 1973). With increases in salinity, and if more firm substrata are available, 

 oyster populations could actually increase. If the land that encloses the estuarine 

 environments is lost, however, and the area becomes open water, then the industry will 

 decline and another renewable resource will be gone. 



Menhaden . The third valuable commercial marine resource is the menhaden 

 (Brevoortia patronus ), or "pogie." The first landings of menhaden were reported in the 

 region around 1940, although commercial exploitation of the species can be traced back 

 to the early 1800's along the Atlantic coast (Lyies 1967; Christmas and Etzold 1977; Frye 

 1978). Since then, menhaden has become the principal industrial fish taken in 

 Louisiana. The reason for its apparent late development is that the oily flesh of the 

 species is not suitable for human consumption, but when processed it is a valuable source 

 of oil and animal feed. 



Catch statistics reveal that the first landings were in West Florida. In 1880, less 

 than 450 kg (1,000 lb) were harvested. Since this small beginning, the industry has 

 expanded considerably. Although variability exists in the catch record, landings have 

 increased steadily since the 1 950's (Christmas and Etzold 1977). The production curve 

 reached its peak in 1971 when Gulf of Mexico ports processed 700 million kg (1.6 billion 

 lb). Since this record year, landings have exceeded 450 million kg (I billion lb) annually 

 (Christmas and Etzold 1977). 



Louisiana's "pogie" fleet annually harvests from 270 to more than 450 million kg 

 (600 million to I billion lb) of this industrial fish. With the area located in and around the 

 Mississippi delta as particularly productive, combined with improvements in fishing gear, 

 menhaden fishermen harvest a catch worth, in most years, in excess of $10 million 

 (Perrett 1968; St. Amant et al. 1973; Wheeland and Thompson 1975). 



Although "shrimp is king" in Louisiana, by weight the menhaden industry is the 

 State's most important fishery. Consequently, the menhaden catch has made the ports of 

 Cameron, Empire-Venice, and Dulac-Chauvin among the top five fishing ports in the 

 United States. Combined, these ports account for a fisheries harvest greater than 390 

 million kg (850 million lb), which represents more than $80 million in annual fisheries 

 income. With continued emphsis on providing protein meal to the underdeveloped 

 countries, the future of the menhaden industry looks favorable. It is, however, necessary 

 to maintain the estuarine environments used by the young fish in the early stages of their 

 development (Rientjes 1970; Dunham 1972). If this habitat is lost, then the menhaden 

 could be seriously impacted. 



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