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THE SHRIMPS IN NORTH CAROLINA 



BY Carter Broad 



Institute of Fisheries Research, University of North Carolina 



INTRODUCTION 



Although small elongate marine crustaceans are caught and sold as human 

 food under the name "shrimp" in New England, California, and Alaska, 

 the shrimp fishery of the United States is virtually the property of the 

 South Atlantic and Gulf regions. Here, three species of a single family of 

 shrimps contributed, in 1945, 98.8 per cent of the catch and 99.6 per cent 

 of the value of an industry worth twenty-one million dollars to the fishermen 

 of the nation. Within the South Atlantic and Gulf regions, the shrimp fishery 

 comprised 39.2 per cent of the total value of all fisheries in 1945. 



North Carolina, situated at the northern limit of abundance of the com- 

 mon commercial shrimp, lands but a small percentage of the shrimp taken. 

 In 1945 North Carolina's share of this fishery was 10,614,000 pounds, or 

 5.5 per cent of the total catch, and $849,160 or 3.97 per cent of the total 

 value. Within the State shrimp ranks second to menhaden in value among 

 individual fisheries and third in value if edible finfish are grouped as a single 

 resource (data from U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 1949). 



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