Coordination of the Blue Crab Studies of the Texas Coast

Commercial production was reported from three areas: Galveston, Matagorda, and Aransas. Production increased to over twice the production of 1962 in the Galveston area, while decreasing approximately one third in the Matagorda and Aransas areas. A total of 1307 samples were used to obtain information for this report. Of these, 734 were trawl samples, 188 trammel, gill or drag seine samples, 385 were seine or pull seine samples. These samples caught 5064 blue crabs. There were 2477 males (49.1%) and 2569 females (50.9%). This is 39.4% less than was caught in 1962 (8328 crabs).