Correlation of rainfall with the Texas catch of white shrimp, Penaeus setiferus (Linnaeus).

The young of the white shrimp, Penaeus setiferus (Linnaeus), grow up in estuarine waters, the salinity of which is governed by rainfall. The Texas shrimp fishery was well started by 1927. From that time until 1936, catches were relatively low. The fishery underwent a period of growth and high-level catches have been obtained from 1937 to the present. During that period the annual catch in pounds of any one year shows a correlation coefficient of 0.883 with the State's average rainfall of the same year and 2 previous years. Essentially, there were 2 blocks of dry years with a period of wet years between, during which the catches were low and high, respectively. Decline of the white shrimp catch has been sharp with the recent drought, but it is expected to rise when the drought breaks. Whether the correlation is directly with salinity per se or some unknown factor governed by salinity is not known.