Review Of The 1986 Texas Closure For The Shrimp Fishery Off Texas And Louisiana

"The implementation of the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery management plan (FMP) in May 1981 permitted, for the first time, closure of the brown shrimp fishery fran the coastline to 200 nautical miles off the Texas coast. The objectives of the Texas closure management measure were to increase the yield of shrimp and to eliminate waste caused by discard of undersized shrimp in the fishery conservation zone (FCZ). According to the FMP, shrimp yield would be increased by protecting shrimp fran fishing during the period when they were predominantly small and were growing rapidly. Discards would be reduced by eliminating the count restriction in order to allow all shrimp caught to be landed. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (GMFMC) agreed to continue this seasonal closure of the brown shrimp fishery off the Texas coast in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 and again in 1986. The 1986 Texas Closure was implemented fran 10 May to 2 July 1986, but unlike other years the area closed was only fran the coastline to 15 nautical miles off the Texas coast. It was determined by the Council that this type of closure would still allow small brown shrimp to be protected from harvest but would also allow the taking of larger brown shrimp by fisherman in deeper waters"--Introduction, paragraph 1