BUREAU OF COMMERCIAL FISHERIES 

 BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY, GALVESTON, TEXAS, 



Fiscal Year 1966 



ABSTRACT 



A progress report of the research at the Laboratory in Galveston. Emphasis 

 is on shrimp, and the research involves the fields of biology, population dynamics, 

 ecology, experimental biology, and oceanography. 



REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 



GENERAL 



The total landings of shrimp in 1965 (140 

 nnillion pounds) constituted the fifth best year 

 since 1950 for the U.S. shrimp fishery. Yet, 

 this volume was but 40 percent of the shrimp 

 made available to the U.S. public. For the 

 fifth successive year, the U.S. shrimp catch 

 was less than 50 percent of the total poundage 

 available in our country; the remainder was 

 imiported. 



This situation has been brought about by 

 three unrelated factors. First, the population 

 growth (152 to 194 million in 15 years); 

 second, the increased per capita consumption 

 of shrimp (0.79 to 1.41 pounds); and third, the 

 lack of increase in U.S. shrimp catches. 

 Although the catch has varied from year to 

 year--the greatest in 1954 (158 million poiinds) 

 and the least in 1961 (91 million pounds)-- 

 there has been no general increase in the 15 

 years since 1950. 



If a continued increase in population and per 

 capita consumption, and stability in the shrimp 

 catch are assumed, then the disparity between 

 volumes of domestic and foreign shrimp will 

 continue to grow. This disparity is not unique 

 to shrimp. Other fisheries fail to produce 

 the major portion of the volume available to 

 the U.S. public. Tuna is smother significant 

 exannple; its domestic -to-foreign ratio in 1965 

 was about the same as for shrimp. 



In dollar value shrimp aind tuna are in the 

 top three fisheries.-shrimp made up 18 per- 

 cent of the 1965 total value and tuna 10 per- 

 cent. Because of the value of these fisheries, 

 especially shrimp, any decrease of domestic 

 and increase of foreign supply constitutes a 

 distinct dollar drain on the U.S. economy. Any 



investigations into the fishery must, therefore, 

 be to devise methods and techniques and to 

 provide knowledge that will decrease this 

 econonnic drain. 



The ultimate goals of fishery research are 

 crop management and crop prediction. Once 

 the management principles are known, their 

 significant application becomes prediction. 

 The earlier the prediction the more economic 

 the fishery. 



It is to crop management and prediction 

 that the efforts at the Bureau of Comnnercial 

 Fisheries Biological Laboratory in Galveston 

 have pointed. Important steps have been made 

 in the past year. Loose ends have been 

 trinnmed; dead ends have been recognized and 

 detoured; and the three main avenues of ap- 

 proach to the goal of nnajcimunn shrimp pro- 

 duction have been clearly illuminated. 



The five research programs at Galveston 

 are organized to analyze the three fundamental 

 factors inherent to siny fishery investigation: 

 (1) life histories of the species constituting 

 the fishery (Shrimp Biology, Experimental 

 Biology, Estuarine Ecology); (2) the response 

 of the species to fishing and to their environ- 

 ment (Shrimp Dynamics, Experimental Biol- 

 ogy, Estuarine Ecology, Shrimp Biology); aind 

 (3) the environment, including variations and 

 their magnitudes in time and space (Gulf 

 Oceanography, Estuarine Ecology, Experi- 

 mental Biology, Shrimp Biology). Not all of 

 the programs were adequately funded in 1966. 

 The production in the progranns of Gulf Ocean- 

 ography and Experimental Biology, owing to 

 this lack, was not significaint in comparison 

 with the need for information. Even so, the 

 studies in these two programs helped to clarify 

 the state of affairs. 



