The coastal fisheries of Texas

The Texas seafood industry is big business. Fishermen landed 146,936,300 pounds of fish and shellfish valued at $53,243,600 at dockside in Texas ports during 1969. This sprawling industry, located along the more than 1,000 miles of bay and estuary shoreline from Port Isabel to Sabine Lake, employs about 13,000 people. During 1969, the total direct sales impact was $218.9 million. The 1,669 vessels of the Texas shrimp fleet had a fixed asset value in excess of $133 million during 1967 and vessels have been added to the fleet each year. Statistics on Texas fisheries are gathered and published by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Data gathered by these agencies provide important information to the fishing industry, governmental agencies and others. This information is useful in evaluating the production trends and management practices of our fishery resources which are becoming more important each year as we depend on the sea for more high- quality protein.