: PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES, 1936 Hy 4 
The shrimp fishery is undergoing a stage of continued expansion 
with the addition of new and improved boats, particularly on the 
South Atlantic coast. This circumstance is due primarily to the 
rapid rise in the raw headless shrimp trade. It is a matter of 
extreme importance that the total catch of shrimp has not increased 
in proportion to the increase in effort. It appears probable that the 
shrimp fishery is nearing the limit of productivity under the pre- 
vailing fishing methods. . 
From the present knowledge of the life history of the shrimp we 
should expect that the first signs of a heavy drain on the fishery 
would appear during the spring season. The spring fishery is com- 
posed of shrimp that have escaped the summer, fall, and winter 
fisheries, consequently a pronounced reduction of the shrimp popu- 
lation by the fishery during these periods would be evidenced by 
a scarcity of shrimp the following spring. During the springs of 
1935 and 1936 there has been a distinctly noticeable reduction in the 
take of shrimp throughout the entire commercial range. In both 
these years the spring fishery was very sporadic and when the runs 
appeared they were of but short duration, 
The trend of the fishery as gathered from the total catch appears 
to indicate that it will not be possible to materially increase the 
poundage of shrimp taken under the present methods of operating. 
Shrimp have a rapid rate of growth, however, and it is highly 
probable that better protection of the young shrimp would result in 
a larger annual take. 
All attempts to analyze the cycles of abundance have met with little 
success, as it has been impossible to secure the catch records required 
for such analysis with the staff and funds available. It is necessary 
to rely upon the States for securing proper catch statistics, and at 
present Texas is the only State that is gathering fishery statistics in a 
manner that will permit their use for abundance analysis. In Sep- 
tember 1936, the Texas Game, Fish and Oyster Commission put into 
effect a new system of collecting fishery statistics which should prove 
very useful in the future. The daily catches and the locality of fishing 
are recorded for each boat fishing in Texas waters. It is hoped that 
more States can be induced to follow this procedure. 
Dr. James S. Gutsell, upon completion of a manuscript pertaining 
to the ovarian development and spawning of the shrimp, was trans- 
ferred from the shrimp staff in July. Doctor Gutsell found that in 
the Beaufort, N. C., region the common shrimp in many instances 
spawn more than once in a spawning season. Definite histological 
criteria were found for mature and spent ovaries. 
Experiments in hatching the planktonic eggs and rearing the larvae 
of several species of penaeid shrimps, including Penaeus setiferus, 
were conducted at St. Augustine, Fla., during the spring and summer 
of 1936 by John C. Pearson. Considerable success was obtained in this 
direction with the result that comprehensive series of the eggs and 
larvae of four species of Penaeidae are now available for comparison 
and description. The preparation of a manuscript, including many 
detailed illustrations of the complicated larval developmeut of the 
penaeid shrimps, was begun during the past year. Special emphasis 
is being placed upon the commercial southern shrimps, Penaeus 
setiferus and Penaeus brasiliensis. 
