Royal Rod Shriwp 



Tho discoveiy of Royal Red shrimp in the deop iratoi's of tho 

 Gulf in tha course of its oxplorc\tiona proMptud tho United Stato;3 Fiah 

 and V/ildlifo Scrvico to extend its inveatigations to South Atlantic 

 waters. Tho follovring paragraphs contain excorpts from the reportts on 

 thj results of the first four cruises made by the Service's exploratory 

 vossela* 



In a series of 1$ deepwater trawling stations off Fort Pierce 

 and Cape Canaveral, Florida, using UO-foot flat shriiiip trawls and a 10- 

 foot beam trawl, large deepwater Royal Red shrimp H-y^ina nopen aous rob iistus 

 wore caucht in all drags between 180 and 235 fathoms. Catcher of sin-imp ~ 

 ran from 5 to 20 pounds per 2-hour drag. A [i-l/2-hoiu: drag off Cape 

 Canaveral using an 80-foot balloon trax^l caught 12^ potuids of Royal Rod 

 shririp of mixed sizes averaging 26-30 count, heads- off. Fixcellont 

 t raiding bottom was found betv/oon Foi't Pierce and Capo Canaveral* 



Between Cape Canaveral and St. Augustine seven l;-hour drags in 

 depths of 1^0 to 212 fathoms caught 20/30-count rod shrimp at rates of 

 about IjO pounds per drag. The largest catch (70 pounds) was made in 

 1?0 to I5J6 fathoms off False Cape, Florida. 



Twenty-five Ii- to 5-hour drags between Cape Canaveral and St. 

 Auguatino produced 2,700 pounds of Royal Rod sliriiup during tho period. 

 The most productive drags were made in the 175-212 fathom range south- 

 east of St, Augustine ufiing a IjO-foot trawl. Three tovia in this area 

 produced 1,020 pounds at a rate of 85 pounds per hour. 



Round-the-clock trawling by tho M/V Cotibat off St. Augustine 

 in depths of 175 to 210 fathoi.is yielded excellent catches of deep-\iat<ir 

 Royal Red shrimp. A total of ii,200 pounds of hoado-on shrimp (21 boxes, 

 headed) wore caught in 16 drags, using a UO-foot flat trawl. 



In view of the encouraging results of the Service's explora- 

 tions coLiriorcial production of Royal Red shrimp in south Atlantic waters 

 was initiated in August 1956. Relatively high costs of production caused 

 a discontinuance of this fishing. 



Species Taken on Gulf of Mexico Flshinf^ Grounds 



Bottom Conditions of Fishing Gr ounds 



Because of the growing importance of the Gulf of Mexico fishing 

 grounds in recent yeai^, and the characteristic distribution of the 

 various species of comisiercial shrimp in this area, the ecology of the 

 lishery will be dLscussed in some detail. 



The Gulf of Mexico is approximately a thousand miles wide from 

 east to west. From north to south, between the Delta of the Mississippi 

 and the north coast of Yucatan, it is approximately 500 miles. The 



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