operate some type of fishing device that does 

 not subject the shrimp to too rough treatment 

 during capture. For use In many shallow- 

 water areas, the most effective and versatile 

 gear for this purpose is the bait shrimp 

 "scrape" or roller-frame trawl described by 

 Dumont and Sundstrom (1961), In some locali- 

 ties "channel nets" (fig. 1) may be used to 

 capture young shrimp for experimental pur- 

 poses. These nets are placed in deep-water 

 channels or passes after dark following a 

 flood tide. Shrimp are caught as they move 

 seaward with the ebbing tide. 



For experiments in deeper water offshore, 

 shrimp may be obtained with otter trawls of 

 the type commonly used by the commercial 

 shrimp fleet. Trawling areas should be se- 

 lected that contain a minimum of dead shells 

 or other heavy material, which may enter 

 the trawl and tend to crush the captured 

 shrimp as they are brought to the surface. 

 Individual drags should be restricted to 10 

 minutes or less (time on the bottom) to 

 minimize losses due to compression of the 

 catch. Such mortality may be further reduced 

 by sewing into the trawl cod end two 24-inch 

 (diameter) metal spreading rings about 4 feet 

 apart. 



Holding and Grading Live Shrimp 



Pink shrimp can be held alive and in good 

 condition if crowding is avoided, water tem- 

 peratures do not exceed 75*^ F., and the 

 salinity is stabilized at or near that of the 

 water from which they are caught. Feeding 

 should be avoided even when circumstances 

 necessitate extended holding periods. 



When working in estuaries or other shallow- 

 water areas, two types of floating cages or 

 "live cars" have been found suitable for 

 holding shrimp during staining operations. 

 One is a plastic 25-gallon garbage can perfo- 

 rated with 1/4-inch holes and supported in 

 the water by an inflated automobile inner 

 tube. The second is a rectangular frame box, 

 18 inches by 16 inches by 10 Inches, con- 

 structed of wood and covered with Fiberglas 

 window screening. Either will hold 300 to 

 500 live shrimp, the number varying with 

 water temperature and shrimp size. In a 

 marking operation, several small cages are 

 preferable to a single large one. They are 

 readily portable and can be easily attached 

 to a dock or vessel. 



In offshore operations, special equipment 

 must be provided to maintain shrimp in good 



Figure 1.— Channel net used to capture 

 migrating shrimp. 



Current 



