Southern California to South America. The spiny 
lobster is subject to intensive fishing. Total landings 
in 1975 were 7.7 million pounds, of which landings 
in the State of Florida were 7.5 million pounds. Of 
the total Florida landings, about 5.5 million pouuds 
were harvested from domestic waters and 2 million 
pounds from foreign waters. The trend in Florida 
landings from 1953 to 1973 was generally upward. 
The increases were largely due to the harvest landed 
from the Bahamian fishery, which was closed to 
U.S. fishers as of August 1, 1975, by the Bahamian 
Government. 
Menhaden 
The predominant species are the Atlantic and Gulf 
of Mexico menhaden. The Atlantic menhaden has 
been fully exploited and will not sustain past levels 
of fishing effort. Annual landings in the Atlantic 
have shown a classic response to a developing fish- 
ery. Landings increased fairly steadily to a peak in 
1956 and then declined as the harvesting rate ex- 
ceeded the growth rate of the menhaden population. 
The population and landings have recovered signifi- 
cantly since the low catch of 390 million pounds in 
1969. Landings in 1975 were 605.7 million pounds. 
NMEFS officials believe that fishing effort is about 
25 percent greater than that required to harvest the 
estimated maximum sustainable yield and great 
enough ‘0 damage the resource and impair its ability 
to sustiin itself. 
The record catch of Gulf menhaden in 1971 was 
over 1.6 billion pounds; but landings have since de- 
clined and no trend is indicated. In 1975 the catch 
was 1.2 billion pounds. 
NMES has concluded from completed studies and 
analyses that the Gulf menhaden resource is healthy 
and producing an annual catch that is considered 
sustainable. The latest yield estimate for the Gulf 
menhaden is 1.09 billion pounds. Using an 80 per- 
cent statistical confidence level, the upper maximum 
yield limit is estimated at 1.18 billion pounds. 
Oysters 
Commercially important oysters are the eastern 
oyster, which is harvested from Massachusetts to 
Texas, principally in the Chesapeake Bay and the 
Gulf of Mexico; and the Pacific and western oysters 
harvested in U.S. waters off the Pacific coast from 
California to Washington. 
Total oyster landings have steadily declined. At- 
lantic landings averaged about 50 million pounds 
per year in the 1950s, but declined to an average of 
28 million pounds per year in the 1960s and 1970s. 
In the Gulf, landings during 1975 were 19.6 million 
pounds, which approximate the annual landings of 
the 1960s. On the Pacific coast, landings have 
steadily declined from the 12.3 million pounds in 
1959 to about 3.7 million pounds in 1975. Factors 
that affect oyster production include: 
e Natural changes to the environment, such as 
floods, which affect the salinity of the water (a 
critical factor in oyster survival) and diseases. 
Bacterial and industrial pollution, which, as an 
example, has resulted in the closure of 33,000 
acres of bottom suitable for oyster production in 
Louisiana. 
® Availability of seed oysters. 
® Obstacles to increased investment in private beds, 
such as the high risk of loss due to floods, pollu- 
tion, disease, and predators. 
Salmon 
The five species that make up the Pacific coast 
salmon fishery are the chinook, chum, coho, pink, 
and sockeye salmon. In 1975, landings of Pacific 
salmon were 201.6 million pounds worth $116.3 
million. The pink and chum salmon accounted for 
about 45 percent of the 1975 commercial landings. 
Sockeye salmon accounted for about 26 percent, but 
is considered the most valuable for canning purposes. 
The chinook and coho salmon are the least abundant 
of the species, but are the object of important com- 
mercial troll and sport fisheries. 
According to NMFS, salmon resources are, for 
all practical purposes, fully used, but some stocks 
are depleted. U.S. landings of Pacific salmon in 1975 
were 76.8 million pounds below the 1970-74 5-year 
average of 278.4 million pounds. The causes for 
decline vary from one area to another; however, 
major reasons for the decline are overfishing, inade- 
quate management, habitat degradation, adverse cli- 
matic conditions, and foreign fishing. Alaska and 
Washington have implemented limited entry systems 
in the salmon fishery. 
Scallops 
Sea, bay, and calico scallops, commercially har- 
vested by the United States, declined from 22.8 
million pounds in 1965 to 13 million pounds in 
1975. NMFS considers the Atlantic sea scallop, 
the most commercially important scallop in the 
United States, to be at a relatively low level of abun- 
dance. NMFS officials believe that the Georges Bank 
resource is being overfished, primarily by Canadian 
fishers. They also believe that many scallops are 
harvested at sizes much smaller than the size pro- 
ducing the maximum meat yield. The status of the 
Alaska sea scallop is not clear, but it appears that 
catches may not increase significantly above present 
landings of under 2 million pounds per year. 
Bay scallop landings have generally been 1 to 2 
million pounds annually; substantial increases are 
not expected. Calico scallops are underused. 
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