Premium
Menhaden Utilization in Relation to the Conservation of Food and Game Fishes of the Texas Gulf Coast
Author(s) -
Knapp Frank T.
Publication year - 1950
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1949)79[137:muirtt]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - menhaden , fishery , bay , fishing , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , geography , fish meal , archaeology
Purse seining for menhaden off the Texas Gulf coast is unlawful because it is believed that such seining would take large numbers of game and food fish and reduce the forage‐fish population. Out of 2,500,000 menhaden taken in 17 purse‐seine hauls in Louisiana waters over a 2‐month period, 208 game and food fish comprising 12 species were caught. Stomach analyses were made on 5,946 fish of 34 species caught June 7 to August 31, 1948. They represented all the important game and food fish on the Texas coast. Menhaden were found in 165 stomachs with a frequency of 2.8 percent. Only 11 of the 34 species had eaten menhaden and in these the frequency of occurrence never exceeded 10.0 percent. The frequency of food items in the diet of these fishes was shrimp 61.8 percent, fishes exclusive of the menhaden 34.2 percent, crabs 12.0 percent, squids 4.0 percent, and miscellaneous invertebrates 4.4 percent. Menhaden and mullets appear to be the most used species of forage fish, but since these fishes are identified by their gizzard‐like stomachs after all other structures have been digested, this high occurrence may be more apparent than real. The menhaden fishing industry catches only the Gulf menhaden (Brevoortia patronus) which seldom enters the bay areas. The bay menhaden (B. gunteri) rarely enters the open Gulf since it lives in areas of low salinity. Therefore, a menhaden fishing industry should not interfere with sport or commercial fishing in the bays. Actually, such a fishery may be beneficial by its reduction of sharks and other undesirable fishes in the area.