IV-299 



between 1964 and 1967. The 1967 catch was less than 17 percent of 

 the 1964 landings. Nearby St. George Sound experienced a similar 

 decline during the same period. The decline in local supplies of 

 shrimp forced Apalachicola fishermen to extend their operations to 

 the Tortugas Area of Florida, which not only increased their opera- 

 ting costs, but — more significantly -- added to the heavy pressure 

 already applied to the Tortugas shrimp fishery. 



Galveston Bay, a steadily growing population and industrial center, 

 has been a prime nurse ground for shrimp and a major area of shrimp 

 harvesting and processing. These primary and secondary fishery 

 activities are threatened by the degradation of the Galveston 

 estuarine environment by industrial and municipal pollution, by 

 dredging and filling, and by decreases in the quantity and quality 

 of freshwater inflows. Although market demand and prices rose 

 steadily from 1962 through 1966, and fishing pressure increased, 

 the total Galveston catch declined drastically from 4,192,900 pounds 

 in 1962 to 1,941,000 in 1966. Although a direct causal relation- 

 ship between estuary degradation and this decline in catch cannot 

 be demonstrated at this time, it is reasonable to conclude that the 

 cumulative effect of degradation acts to reduce available supplies 

 of shrimp. 



