Table 7. --Species composition of industrial bottomfish landings, by subarea, from the 



north-central Gulf of Mexico, 1959-63 



Species 



Year 



L959 



I960 



1961 



1962 1963 



Average 



Composition of 

 5-year total 



West Delta: Nearshore: 



Croaker 



Spot 



Seatrout 1 



Cutlassfish 



Sea catfish 



Longspine porgy 



All others 



Total , 



West Delta: Offshore: 



Croaker , 



Spot 



Seatrout 1 , 



Cutlassfish , 



Sea catfish , 



Longspine porgy. 

 All others , 



Total 



East Delta: Nearshore: 



Croaker 



Spot , 



Seatrout 1 



Cutlassfish , 



Sea catfish , 



Longspine porgy , 



All others , 



Total 



East Delta: Offshore: 



Croaker 



Spot 



Seatrout 1 



Cutlassfish 



Sea catfish 



Longspine porgy. . . . 

 All others 



Total. 



Tons 



1,370 

 109 

 173 

 118 

 101 

 1 

 197 



Tons 



917 

 91 



250 



14-5 



44 



2 



234 



Tons 



1,428 

 114 

 213 

 182 

 96 

 1 

 220 



Tons 



5,230 

 372 

 597 

 498 

 239 

 6 

 774 



Tons 



4,408 

 164 

 737 

 689 

 171 



363 



Tons 



2,671 

 170 

 394 

 326 

 130 

 2 

 358 



2,068 



1,683 



2,254 



7,716 



6,532 



4,051 



4,400 

 846 



2,355 



283 



272 



90 



1,640 



3,216 

 396 



1,111 



90 



124 



102 



828 



1,750 

 172 

 314 

 135 

 104 

 29 

 272 



4,887 

 485 

 968 

 594 

 235 

 70 

 737 



9,886 



5,867 



2,776 



7,976 



8,936 



2,805 



1,188 



761 



693 



79 



4,062 



7,048 

 2,189 

 1,580 

 1,498 

 481 

 320 

 4,958 



10,744 



2,300 



936 



2,065 



629 



202 



3,037 



10,975 

 1,725 

 1,580 

 1,209 

 459 

 294 

 2,754 



18,524 



18,074 



19,913 



18,996 



5,402 



1,649 



211 



39 



135 



564 



1,404 



8,004 



1,889 



1,100 



236 



148 



622 



2,607 



8,155 

 1,961 

 483 

 276 

 171 

 742 

 1,698 



7,536 

 2,159 

 800 

 176 

 280 

 666 

 1,935 



9,404 14,606 



13,486 



13,552 



5,971 



309 

 824 

 170 

 174 

 47 

 761 



4,045 

 442 



1,114 



254 



182 



68 



848 



8,256 



6,952 



10,214 

 2,310 

 761 

 700 

 530 

 282 

 3,276 



9,583 

 2,266 

 1,209 

 1,247 

 558 

 235 

 3,617 



18,073 



18,716 



4,221 

 989 



134 



76 



90 



451 



753 



6,664 

 1,729 

 546 

 161 

 165 

 609 

 1,679 



6,714 



11,552 



Percent 



66 



4 

 10 

 8 

 3 

 1 

 9 



100 



58 

 6 



16 

 4 

 3 

 1 



12 



100 



51 

 12 

 6 

 7 

 3 

 1 

 20 



100 



58 

 15 

 5 

 1 

 1 

 5 

 15 



100 



1 Includes silver and sand seatrouts. 



TRENDS IN POPULATION SIZE 



The term population refers herein to that 

 portion of a fishable stock present within the 

 geographical boundaries of the four northern 

 Gulf coast areas designated earlier and is not 

 meant to imply the existence of distinguishable 

 subpopulations. 



The mean annual catch in weight per hour 

 for all species combined was used as a meas- 

 ure, or index, of the annual population present 

 in each fishing area. The fundamental assump- 

 tion in its use is that the trawl takes, on the 

 average, a constant proportion of the total 

 fish of catchable size present on the grounds 

 at the time of fishing, whether fish are 



14 



