Texas Closure/Tortugas Closure

In 1976 the United States extended its jurisdiction over fisheries, exclusive of tuna, to 200 nautical miles and provided a program of management. Before that time fisheries in the territorial sea were managed by the states. In the U.S. Gulf of Mexico there are five state jurisdictions which were not changed by the extended federal jurisdiction. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama each have three nautical miles of sea and Texas and Florida's west coast have nine nautical miles. The goal of the shrimp fishery management plan, developed by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, is to manage the shrimp fishery of the United States waters of the Gulf of Mexico in order to attain the greates overall benefit to the nationt with particular reference to food production and recreational opportunities on the basis of the maximum sustainable yield as modified by relevant economic, social or ecological factors.