Study of Populations of Juvenile Shrimp in the Aransas Bay Complex - Study of the Texas Shrimp Populations

Brown shrimp were 69.1 per cent less abundant in 10-foot trawl samples in 1962 than in 1961. White shrimp were 69.3 per cent less abundant. Twenty-foot trawl samples had 96.7 per cent less browns and 93.2 per cent less whites. There was 61 per cent less total rainfall in 1962 than in 1961. Bar seine samples in tertiary Mission Bay were void of white shrimp in 1962. Shrimp achieved a higher modal size in 1962 than in 1961. Commercial shrimp production in the Aransas Bay area increased 37.7 per cent for brown shrimp and dropped 86.2 per cent for white shrimp in 1962. It is difficult to compare commercial production to figures from this study because commercial landings reflect legal sized shrimp only. Higher salinities in Mission Bay caused habitat changes in 1962.