Fishes Taken During Shrimp Trawling 



Along the South Atlantic Coast of 



the United States, 1931-35 



By 



WILLIAM W. ANDERSON, Fishery Biologist 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory 

 Brunswick, Georgia 31520 



ABSTRACT 



Fish of numerous families and species are taken with shrimp on the shrimping 

 grounds. Records of the fish taken during a study of the white shrinnp by the U.S. 

 Bureau of Fisheries, are provided. These records cover the coast from Cape 

 Romain, S.C., to Cape Kennedy, Fla., and are organized under four basic areas: South 

 Carolina Outside, Georgia Outside, Georgia Inside, and Florida Outside. The entire 

 region is treated also as a unit. Yearly and monthly average numbers of fish taken 

 per hour of trawling and percentages of the catch are provided for all species for 

 the region and for the several basic areas. 



Seasonal variation in the numbers offish on the shrimp fishing grounds is large; 

 numbers are lowest during the late winter and spring, build up rapidly in the summer 

 and early fall, and are highest in the late fall and early winter. 



The croaker family (Sciaenidae) was the most abundant and important found on 

 the shrimp fishing grounds. Croakers were captured in greater numbers than all 

 other families of fish combined in every month of the year. 



Four fannilies of fish--The Sciaenidae (croakers), Carangidae (jacks), Ariidae 

 (sea catfish), and Bothidae (flounders) --were taken in greatest numbers per hour 

 of trawling and together contributed almost 87 percent of the yearly average catch 

 in the region. 



Seven species of fish-- Stellifer lance olatus (star drum), Micropogon undulatus 

 (Atlantic croaker), Leiostonnus xanthurus (spot), Menticirrhus spp. (king whiting), 

 Chloroscombrus chrysurus (bumper), Cynoscion regali s (gray seatrout), and Etropus 

 crossotus (fringed flounder) --each contributed 3 percent or more of the yearly 

 average catch for the region, and together represented over 76 percent of the yearly 

 average catch in the region. 



INTRODUCTION 



The U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, during studies 

 on the white shrimp ( Penaeus setiferus) along 

 the south Atlantic coast of the United States 

 in 1931-35, recorded the fish captured inci- 

 dentally to trawling for shrimp. These records 

 give information on relative and seasonal 

 abundances of the many families and species 

 of fish associated with shrimp on the fishing 

 grounds. These data enable us to make a good 

 estimate of the average catch of fish taken 

 during commercial shrimp fishing. 



METHODS 



The data were obtained fronn operations of 

 the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries boat Launch 58 , 

 a 40-foot (12.2-m.) shrimp trawler (fig. 1) 

 using standard commercial shrimp trawls, 

 which were 75 feet (22.3 m.) wide and nnade 

 of 1 -3/4 -inch (4. 4 -cm.) stretched mesh netting. 

 Hauls were made at 2 to 3 knots and lasted 

 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Fish were sorted and counted 

 aboard the boat- -when catches were large a 

 subsample was used. Specimens representing 

 species new to the catches, or for which 



