DISTRIBUTION AND RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF 



COMMERCIALLY IMPORTANT PANDALID SHRIMPS IN 



THE NORTHEASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN 



by 



Lael L. Ronholt 



Fishery Biologist (Research) 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 



Exploratory Fishing and Gear Research Base 



U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 



Seattle, Washington 



ABSTRACT 



Data resulting from exploratory fishing on 18 cruises of the Bureau of Com- 

 mercial Fisheries exploratory fishing vessel John N. Cobb from 1950-60 were ana- 

 lyzed to determine the average catch of shrimp per unit of effort and per 10-fathom 

 depth interval in each of four areas: Oregon and Washington, Southeastern Alaska, 

 central Alaska, and Alaska Peninsula. The five species of shrimp encountered 

 were: Pandalus jordani,P. borealis,F. hypsinotus, P. platyceros, and Pandalop sis dispar. 

 Gulf of Mexico shrimp trawls and West Coast beam trawls were the major gear 

 used during the explorations. 



INTRODUCTION 



The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries re- 

 search vessel John N. Cobb has made 18 cruises 

 in the past decade (table 1) to locate and 

 assess latent shrimp resources from southern 

 Oregon to the Alaska Peninsula. Data from 

 the cruises were examined to provide infor- 

 mation on the general distribution and relative 

 abundance of commercially important pandalid 

 shrimps found adjacent to Oregon, Washington, 

 and Alaska. Off British Columbia, only the 

 waters near Cape Beale were explored by 

 the Cobb. Explorations conducted in British 



Columbia waters by the Fisheries Research 

 Board of Canada (Butler and Legare, 1954; 

 Butler and Dubokovic, 1955a and 1955b) are 

 not included herein. 



GEAR AND METHODS 



Sampling devices used in the explorations 

 included beam trawls. Gulf of Mexico type 

 flat and semiballoon shrimp trawls, fish trawls, 

 and several types of shrimp traps. Only the 

 beam trawls and Gulf shrimp trawls were 

 used extensively enough to give adequate 



