Gary L. Graham Professor and Marine Fisheries Specialist Texas Sea Grant Texas Cooperative Extension Wildlife

1
Gary L. GrahamProfessor and Marine Fisheries
SpecialistTexas Sea GrantTexas Cooperative
ExtensionWildlife Fisheries Sciences
DepartmentTexas AM University

• Industry IOOS Workshop
• Houston, Texas
• March 2-4, 2004

2
Commercial Fishing and Aquaculture

• Shrimp Industry most valuable fishery in U.S.
• 230,000,000 pounds of product
• 379,000,000 ex-vessel value (decreased)
• U.S. consumption 1.1 billion pounds
• 700,000,000 pounds of imports
• High dollar commodity does not translate into
  high margin enterprise for producers

3
Permitted Offshore Shrimp Vessels

• 2671 in January 04
• 65-100 lengths
• Average crew of 3
• Freezer equipped 90
• 30-50 day trips
• Often highly migratory
• Generally less than 50 fathoms
• Some specialty fishing (royal red shrimp)

4
Inshore Vessels

• Texas 1000
• Significant numbers throughout Gulf

5
Shrimp Fishery Applications

• Information to provide efficient running
  conditions
• Predictability of Shrimp Concentrations
• Currently some seabed features are consistent
  with production
• Knowledge of past harvests not always helpful
• Sophistication/Understanding of Potential

6
Shrimp Fishery Applications

• Advancement of Biological Understanding
• Larval Transport
• Migrations of Sub-adults and Adults
• Impacts of Physical and Chemical Factors
• Hypoxic/Anoxic Areas
• Noxious Blooms Red Tide

7
Shrimp Vessels of Opportunity

• Cooperation exists
• Passive Systems probably necessary
• Florida Texas Within 50 fathoms
• Some outside of the continental shelf

8
(No Transcript)
9
(No Transcript)
10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14
Aquaculture

• Shrimp 8,000,000
• Catfish Expanding
• Offshore Net Pens Unclear
• Offshore Applications Could be Significant

15
Summary

• Vessels of Opportunity
• NASA Space Program
• Applications will present themselves