CONTENTS 



Page 



Report of the Director 



General 



Laboratory facilities 



Safety 



Public relations 



Training 2 



Seminars 2 



Meetings attended 3 



Work conferences 3 



Publications 3 



Manuscripts in press 3 



Manuscripts submitted 4 



Staff 4 



Shrimp biology program (, 



Oceanographic observations on the continental shelf of the north- 

 western Gulf of Mexico 7 



Surface salinities 7 



Surface temperatures 9 



Bottom temperatures 9 



Studies of currents 9 



Distribution and abundance of shrinnp larvae 10 



Catch composition between 1962 and 1963 10 



Seasonal distribution of commercial species, 1963 10 



Seasonal trends in abundance, 1962 and 1963 11 



Noncommercial species 12 



Identification and culture of shrimp larvae 12 



Cultivation of shrimp in artificial ponds 14 



Procedures 14 



Preliminary results 14 



Florida Bay ecology project 15 



The study area 15 



Development of sampling equipnnent I5 



Sampling procedure 17 



Preliminary results 17 



Ecologically associated organisms 18 



Abundance and distribution of pink shrimp larvae on the Tortugas 



shelf of Florida I9 



Abundance of juvenile pink shrimp on the Everglades National 



Park nursery grounds I9 



Shrimp dynamics program 20 



Mark-recapture experiments 21 



Size composition of commercial shrimp landings 23 



Shrimp population studies 24 



Abundance of postlarval and juvenile shrimp 26 



Postlarval shrin-ip 26 



Juvenile shrimp 26 



Studies of postlarval shrimp in Vernnilion Bay, La 2g 



Estuarine program 28 



Ecology of western Gulf estuaries 32 



Hydrology 32 



Primary productivity 32 



Fresh-water discharge and salinity 33 



Distribution and density of juvenile brown shrimp 34 



