APPENDIX III APPENDIX If 
Recreational shrimp fishing in the South Atlantic is esti- 
mated to be widespread--about 10 to 15 percent of the total 
catch of shrimp in the region. 
In the Gulf of Mexico, recreational fishermen in some 
coastal areas harvest large quantities of shrimp. An 
unpublished 1968 report by the Louisiana Bureau of Sport 
Fisheries and Wildlife estimated that the Louisiana sport 
shrimping activity in 1968 involved a catch of 18,650,000 
pounds of shrimp. Commercial shrimp landings in Louisiana 
for that year amounted to about 67,767,800 pounds. 
NMFS had planned to survey the Pacific States in 1976 
but this part of the program has been delayed. According 
to Alaska, Washington, and Oregon State officials, little 
recreational fishing for shrimp exists on the Pacific 
coast. The only measurable amount, approximately 3,000 
pounds in 1975, was caught in the Puget Sound in Washington. 
Management Controls 
Management of the U.S. shrimp fishery is fragmented. 
There are no overall management programs for species common 
to the various States of the South Atlantic, Gulf, and 
Pacific segments of the fishery. Individual State regulation 
is the rule. Only the North Atlantic region manages the fish- 
ery on a comprehensive basis. 
North Atlantic 
The northern Atlantic shrimp fishery was completely 
unregulated until Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts 
initiated action jointly with NMFS to cooperatively manage 
the northern shrimp species as part of the State-Federal 
Fisheries Management Program. In 1973 the three States 
adopted an interim net mesh size regulation designed to pro- 
tect small male shrimp and delegated authority to the At- 
lantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to regulate the 
fishery. In November 1973 the Commission issued the interim 
net mesh regulation. Due to limited resources, however, the 
States did not fully enforce the regulation. A decline in 
the shrimp population continued and additional conservation 
measures were needed. In June 1975 the Commission adopted 
a July 5 to September 27, 1975, fisherywide season closure. 
Even with this, 1975 landings of 11.7 million pounds were 
27 percent more than the 9.2 million pound limit the biolo- 
gists recommended as the total allowable catch. On April 15, 
1976, the Commission closed the northern shrimp fishery 
Snide eienale esi: Recommendations for the 1977 fishery, if any, 
will be made to the Commission by the Northern Shrimp Sec- 
tion when they review the fishery during the fall of 1976. 
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