The Campeche Pink Shrimp Population, 1956-1960 



Joseph H. Kutkuhn 



Shrimp stocks lying off the northern coast of Yucatan, although rec- 

 onnoitered as early as 1936 by the Japanese, were not fished significantly un- 

 til the close of World War II. Operations on the so-called Obregon-Campeche 

 grounds by United States trawlers began about 1950 and have steadily expanded 

 ever since. 



Three species of Penaeidae support the Gulf of Campeche fishery. 

 Brown and white shrimp are found in commercial quantities off Tupilco and 

 Obregon (statistical areas 31 and 3Z), while pink shrimp predominate north of 

 Carmen and west of Campeche (statistical areas 33 and 34). 



On the basis of comparisons 

 with data supplied by the Mexican Bu- 

 reau of Fisheries and Allied Industries 

 for the years 1956 and 1957, the Mex- 

 ican fleet accounts for roughly 56 per- 

 cent of all shrimp harvested annually 

 in the Campeche area. Reflecting to 

 some extent a respect for Mexico's 

 claim to a 9-mile territorial limit, the 

 United States fleet takes only about 6 

 and 1 percent, respectively, of the 

 total brown and white shrimp harvest, 

 but almost 65 percent of the total pink 

 shrimp catch. United States vessels 

 concentrate their activities on the ex- 

 tensive flats within a radius of 15 to 

 80 miles west of Morros Point. 



Statistical coverage of the 

 fleet fishing the Obregon-Campeche 

 grounds is complicated somewhat by 

 the fact that trawlers completing a trip 

 may land portions of catches of as many 

 as a half dozen other trawlers still on 

 the fishing grounds, and only a fraction 

 of what they themselves caught while 

 away from port. Trips to the Cam- ^ 

 peche area may last upwards of 6 to 7 weeks. This very efficient system of 

 "freighting", wherein vessels stagger their departures to and from these dis- 

 tant grounds, greatly enhances the quality of shrimp arriving at United States 

 ports but renders difficult the problem of assigning effort and catches to indi- 

 vidual trawlers. Fortunately, most of the Campeche fleet operates out of a 



The Obregon-Campeche trawling 

 grounds showing subdivision into 

 statistical coding units. 



22 



