annotated bibliography of fisheries economics literature - Office of ...

Much of the data relevant to potential seasonal and areal closures of
the shrimp fishery to reduce bycatch of red snapper are collected in this
document including observations made by biologists aboard commercial shrimp
vessels, research trawl data, and results derived from commercial statistics
on the distribution of shrimp effort and fishing mortality rate. In general,
if a closure can be reasonably expected to reduce the amount of shrimping
effort in the offshore waters of the Gulf, there is a good chance that the
closure will effect some reduction in red snapper bycatch. If a closure
simply causes effort to move around in time or space without decreasing the
amount of effort, little bycatch reduction can be expected, and some closures
might turn out to be counter productive.
Nichols, Scott (1993). "The 1993 Texas Closure - Results of SEAMAP
Sampling." Report to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management
Council, National Marine Fisheries Service, Mississippi
Laboratories.
Increases in yield in pounds due to the closure were indicated for 1993
for both M values. Very low catch rates were observed in 1993, as was the
case in 1992. Nevertheless, small shrimp again dominated the size composition
sufficiently for the closure to generate an increase in yield.
Nichols, Scott (1993). "Shrimp Fleet Bycatch." Report to the Gulf of
Mexico Fishery Management Council, July.
Hard copies of the overheads used in the presentation at the Council
meeting. The presentation includes graphs of CPUE, catch rates, offshore
shrimp effort, and red snapper bycatch estimates.
Nichols, Scott (1994). "Fish:Shrimp Ratios in the Gulf of Mexico."
Report to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, National
Marine Fisheries Service, Mississippi Laboratories.
While the National Marine Fisheries Service recommends against using
fish:shrimp ratios whenever possible as a means of determining total bycatch
levels, an analysis of finfish to shrimp catch ratios over time is presented.
Nichols, Scott (1994). "The 1994 Texas Closure - Results of SEAMAP
Sampling." Report to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management
Council, National Marine Fisheries Service, Mississippi
Laboratories.
Increases in yield in pounds due to closure were indicated for 1994 for
M values of 0.15 and 0.28 per month. The 1994 year class was strong compared
to the last 2 years with small shrimp dominating the size composition
sufficiently for the closure to generate an increase in yield.
Nichols, Scott (1996). "An Update on Some Issues Relating to the
Distribution of Red Snapper Bycatch." In Southeast Fisheries
Science Center (1996). "Summary Report on the Status of Bycatch
Reduction Device Development." National Marine Fisheries Service,
Mississippi Laboratories, P.O. Drawer 1207, Pascagoula,
Mississippi, March.
This paper updates the estimates of red snapper bycatch by the shrimp
fishery in the offshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico through 1994, and
presents spatial distribution information relevant to several matters that
have arisen during debate on the status of red snapper stocks by the Council
or its advisory committees.
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