Trends in Texas commercial fisheries landings, 1977-1984

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in cooperation with the National Marine Fisheries Service collects data on commercially landed finfishes and shellfishes from Texas' bays and from the Gulf of Mexico off Texas. Shrimp continues to be the most important commercial seafood product in Texas. They comprised 86% of the pounds and 94% of the value of total seafood landings, while oysters, crabs and finfish accounted for 14% of the total pounds landed and 6% of the value in 1984. Total reported landings in 1984 were 104,801,100 lb with an ex-vessel value of $191,689,700. This is the third highest poundage recorded and the fourth year in a row of record high value. The previous high value in 1983 was exceeded by over $3,670,000. Since 1977, the mean price/lb paid to commercial fishermen increased for all species except for other shrimp. However, with the exception of red snapper, white shrimp, and oysters, prices of finfishes and shellfishes decreased from 1983 to 1984.