Commercial fish and penaeid shrimp studies, northwestern Gulf Mexico.

From August 1975 through September 1977 the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department conducted a study in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico to monitor juvenile and adult penaeid shrimp for growth, movement and abundance for the purpose of management by season adjustment; and to evaluate the effect of seasonal closure and other regulations of the commercial fishery. We took 187 samples at night from 6-25 fm and 142 trawls during the day in 3-15 fm off the central Texas coast. The summer closed season within 3 marine leagues protected numbers of small brown shrimp but may have been more effective had waters been closed further offshore. The summer closed season also protected a portion of the spawning white shrimp population. The closed zone inside 7 fm at night protected undersized brown shrimp from May through September and small white shrimp from November through March. The winter closed season within 7 fm protected white shrimp at their smallest mean size, but undersized shrimp were present before and after the closed season.