INDUSTRIAL FISHERY PROGRAM 



Joseph H. Kutkuhn, Program Leader 



Since the inception of the now- extensive Gulf of Mexico shrimp 

 fishery, commercial trawlers have been taking moderate to large quantities 

 of fish incidental to the highly sought shrimp. In nearly all seasons and es- 

 pecially off the north central Gulf coast, bottom fishes of many kinds are ex- 

 tremely plentiful. Because of their small average size and general undesir- 

 ability, they have never been found suited to marketing for human comsump- 

 tion. Not until the early 1950 's was it conceived that such fishes might con- 

 stitute ideal animal food supplements. A pilot plant established at Pascagoula, 

 Mississippi, in 1952 successfully implemented this idea and a large-volume 

 "industrial" fishery has since developed in that area. 



Utilization of Gulf of Mexico demersal fish populations first came 

 under surveillance by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in 1958 when yields 

 in the Delta area rose sharply to almost 68 million pounds. In that year a pro- 

 gram for securing statistics of the fishery's operations was initiated, as was 

 a program of biological research on the major contributing species. In ad- 

 dition to research being conducted at its Pascagoula Field Station, preliminary 

 studies of bottom-fish populations and their commercial potential in the west- 

 ern Louisiana- Texas area are now underway at the Galveston Laboratory. Ob- 

 jectives of the research at both locations are, generally, (1) to describe the 

 life histories of those species dominating the fishery (actual and potential); 

 (Z) to ascertain their geographical and seasonal distribution; (3) to provide 

 means for measuring and predicting their abundance; and (4) to define the 

 mechanisms whereby artificial and natural factors govern their populations. 



Although research on pelagic (excluding the menhaden) as well as 

 demersal industrial-type fishes is programmed, it has been precluded thus 

 far due to the failure of any fishery for such forms to develop, insufficient 

 resources in terms of appropriate population sampling facilities, and hence 

 the lack of biological material. Outside of some contract research supervised 

 through the Galveston Laboratory, research on menhaden populations is now 

 performed by the Bureau's Beaufort, North Carolina, laboratory. 



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