1143 
Shrimp are caught commercially in nearly all seaboard states of the Union 
but for the past twenty years the fishery has been particularly concentrated on 
both coasts of Florida, Georgia, and the entire Gulf of Mexico coast. In the Gulf 
of Mexico has been developed the type of vessel, gear and methodology for shrimp 
eatching that has led the way in the world—the double-rigged Gulf otter-trawler. 
The fishery has increased steadily in production since the turn of the century, 
exceeded the 100 million pound level in 1936, the 200 million pound level in 1952, 
and the 300 million pound level (about 324 million pounds heads-on) in 1967. 
The Gulf fishery exists mostly on three species of Penaeid shrimp, the white, 
brown and pink. These have the common characteristic of living only a year to 
eighteen months so that, substantially speaking, there is no conservation problem 
as exists with most of the fish referred to above. It is very nearly an annual 
crop, like cereal, and if not harvested it dies and is wasted. The only thing about 
this kind of shrimp is that they are found throughout the Caribbean area, and the 
same species of brown shrimp is commercially abundant off Northern Brazil and 
in the same latitudes, off West Africa. Smaller species of shrimp (sea bob) are 
available in large volume in the same region and will support much larger 
catches than now taken. The large Royal Red (or carabinero) shrimp is found 
in deeper water (particularly abundantly off West Africa) but is not yet fished 
heavily. 
Most shrimping is done on the continental shelf and in relatively shallow water 
(mostly less than 50 fathoms). This has brought the shrimp fishermen a differ- 
ent set of international problems than the tuna fishermen have had. Where the 
continental shelf was broad and reasonably close to American Gulf ports a means 
of long range fishing developed even with relatively small vessels using ice. A 
vessel going out to the grounds would take ice for others, and one coming home 
would carry shrimp for others. In this manner the fishery off eastern Mexico 
(especially on Campeche Bank and along Tamaulipas State) was developed by 
vessels out of West Florida, Texas and other Gulf ports. 
Instead of exhausting the shrimp stock by increased fishing effort the effect, 
under normal circumstances, is to reduce the catch by the average vessel. As 
this goes on the more adventurous fishermen move on experimentally to new and 
more distant grounds. So long as they are within reach of home port and ice they 
operate out of home port. When the grounds are too distant to permit this bases 
are established as possible, in countries closer to the fishing grounds, and freezing 
plants are erected so the catches can be frozen and shipped home or to market 
elsewhere in the United States. In this manner the shrimp industry has developed 
another sort of international character different than that of the tuna industry. 
Guif, and other, shrimp operators have, by this means, spread throughout the 
Caribbean, down the northeast slope of Brazil (out of bases in Barbado’s and 
he Guianas), and U.S. firms have established shrimp fisheries in the eastern 
Pacific from Guatemala to Ecuador. Probing extensions are going on further 
south in Brazil and off the West African coast. By providing market, sometimes 
credit, sometimes other incentives, sometimes through joint ventures, United 
States firms have been important in establishing shrimp fisheries in the Persian 
Gulf, off India and Pakistan, and in Indonesia. 
This has tempered the attitude o fthe shrimp industry toward imports because 
in a good many instances leaders in the Gulf shrimp fishery had one or more 
hoats fishing out of a foreign port whose catches when they reached the United 
States were classed as imports. Furthermore the efficiency of American shrimp- 
ers has always stayed at a level where, except for short periods of time occasion- 
ally, they could compete economically against imports. 
Accordingly the line between international, foreign and domestic shrimping 
has never been so clear as in the tuna fishery. Since most shrimping is done within 
i2 miles of shore there has not even been much of a jurisdictional problem, ex- 
cept with Mexico. 
The shrimp business has not been without its ups and downs. As a matter of 
fact there is a regular cycle of about 31% years duration where the price of 
shrimp, number of vessels and catch goes up steadily until there is too much 
production at too high price. The price, new vessel construction and production 
then drop for a six month or so period, and the cycle starts all over again, Over 
the past eighteen or twenty years of this the trend line both of price and con- 
sumption has been steadily upward, and it still is. 
There is no top yet apparent to the shrimp market in the United Sates. Con- 
sumption double on about a fifteen year basis and does not seem to slack off. As 
with canned tuna the per capita consumption rate also continues upward. 
