As they grow the shrimp have to cast off their shells to form another as they expand into their new shells. Shrimp grow rapidly in water temps of 68 degrees or higher, but when water temps fall below 60 degrees shrimp growth is much slower and if water temps drop below 40 degrees they often will die.

The Texas shrimp fishery is very valuable asset with Texas being one of the major seafood industries in the United States. Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept; sells about 7,000 commercial shrimp boat licenses and about 2,000 noncommercial shrimp trawl licenses per year with its landings exceeding 73 million pounds of shrimp annually, valued at more than 150 million dollars to the commercial fishermen.

Brown, white and pink shrimp harvested in Texas bays and Gulf, account for more than 80 percent of the Texas catch. The young use bays and begin entering the Gulf in late May or early June. If growth is fast, they may leave bays earlier, occasionally this will happen after a warm water winter.

White shrimp, which use bays during late spring, summer and fall, support a huge fishery in bays along the upper coast and near-shore waters off the Gulf beach areas. They stay in bays longer than the rest and reach a larger size than brown shrimp and migrate to the Gulf as bays cool in the fall.

Pink shrimp, an important commercial shrimp in Florida and Mexico, are caught in Texas but do not represent a major part of the fishery. They inhabit bays from late fall through early Spring, primarily along the middle and lower Texas coast.

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Other shrimps of minor commercial value occur in the Gulf. Among these are the seabob, with its long head spine, the rock shrimp, with its hard outer shell, trachypenaeids, with their rough carapace, and a deep-water type called the royal red shrimp.

Most shrimp are caught with trawls, which are winged nets forming a cone- like shape in the middle that tapers to a narrow end, called the cod-end. The two "wings" of a trawl are attached to wood "doors" weighted with metal "shoes" or runners with lines running from the shrimp boat to each door. As the shrimp boat drags the trawl over the sea floor, the trawl is held open by the kite-like spreading action of the doors. Shrimp and bottom fish are then scooped into the open trawl piling up in the cod-end. When the net is boated, the line that holds the cod-end closed is released and the catch falls to the deck. Texas Gulf Shrimpers then will remove the heads (not allowed for Texas bay trawlers) before icing down the fleshy tails with the heads discarded overboard.

In the days of yore shrimpers used long and bulky seine nets for catching shrimp and had to labor many hours setting their nets along coastal shores then used horses to pull the nets in. Back then it was only profitable to shrimp when the shrimp were near the surf. But by the 1940’s when trawlers were a common sight along the coast they changed their ways and lifestyles for shrimping the coastal areas.

Once shrimpers were equipped with trawls, they could fish the dense shrimp pods found in deeper bay waters and the Gulf of Mexico. Improvements in transportation and refrigeration accompanied the growth of the shrimp fishery into new market areas. Today the modern Gulf trawler are large, well-equipped seagoing vessel that can tow two or more large trawls at once.

Since redfish, sea-trout and most saltwater game-fish feed heavily on shrimp, live shrimp became a very big business for bait shops catering to sport anglers, and the bait shrimpers had to make 10 to 20 drags a day to keep up with the demand. Bait camps hold their live shrimp in watertight pens made of fiberboard, plywood or concrete. Small pens, 4x4x8 feet hold up to 30 to 80 quarts of shrimp. Large pens hold up to 100 quarts, and at almost $20 a quart the profit margin is huge.

Because of the rising cost of bait shrimp cast-nets became popular with sport anglers who choose to catch their own bait shrimp. But cast nets are limited for use near the shoreline or in shallow bays before the angler can successfully catch shrimp with sport nets. Check the rules and regulations in the TP&WD booklet before using cast nets.

The Texas shrimp fishery is a trust of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, with fisheries biologists involved in shrimp sampling programs to safeguard the quantity and quality of shrimp in Texas coastal waters. This information is then used to manage the shrimp fishery more efficiently, which eventually puts that shrimp delicacy on your plate for you to enjoy or for baiting your fishing hook to catch that elusive trophy.

Shrimp are very important to the coastal economy of Texas which is why TP&WD puts very strict rules and regulations on the shrimp fishery. For with no shrimp on your plate or no shrimp on your hook, the commerce of Texas would take a severe hit.

As they grow the shrimp have to cast off their shells to form another as they expand into their new shells. Shrimp grow rapidly in water temps of 68 degrees or higher, but when water temps fall below 60 degrees shrimp growth is much slower and if water temps drop below 40 degrees they often will die.

The Texas shrimp fishery is very valuable asset with Texas being one of the major seafood industries in the United States. Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept; sells about 7,000 commercial shrimp boat licenses and about 2,000 noncommercial shrimp trawl licenses per year with its landings exceeding 73 million pounds of shrimp annually, valued at more than 150 million dollars to the commercial fishermen.

Brown, white and pink shrimp harvested in Texas bays and Gulf, account for more than 80 percent of the Texas catch. The young use bays and begin entering the Gulf in late May or early June. If growth is fast, they may leave bays earlier, occasionally this will happen after a warm water winter.

White shrimp, which use bays during late spring, summer and fall, support a huge fishery in bays along the upper coast and near-shore waters off the Gulf beach areas. They stay in bays longer than the rest and reach a larger size than brown shrimp and migrate to the Gulf as bays cool in the fall.

Pink shrimp, an important commercial shrimp in Florida and Mexico, are caught in Texas but do not represent a major part of the fishery. They inhabit bays from late fall through early Spring, primarily along the middle and lower Texas coast.

.

Other shrimps of minor commercial value occur in the Gulf. Among these are the seabob, with its long head spine, the rock shrimp, with its hard outer shell, trachypenaeids, with their rough carapace, and a deep-water type called the royal red shrimp.

Most shrimp are caught with trawls, which are winged nets forming a cone- like shape in the middle that tapers to a narrow end, called the cod-end. The two "wings" of a trawl are attached to wood "doors" weighted with metal "shoes" or runners with lines running from the shrimp boat to each door. As the shrimp boat drags the trawl over the sea floor, the trawl is held open by the kite-like spreading action of the doors. Shrimp and bottom fish are then scooped into the open trawl piling up in the cod-end. When the net is boated, the line that holds the cod-end closed is released and the catch falls to the deck. Texas Gulf Shrimpers then will remove the heads (not allowed for Texas bay trawlers) before icing down the fleshy tails with the heads discarded overboard.

In the days of yore shrimpers used long and bulky seine nets for catching shrimp and had to labor many hours setting their nets along coastal shores then used horses to pull the nets in. Back then it was only profitable to shrimp when the shrimp were near the surf. But by the 1940’s when trawlers were a common sight along the coast they changed their ways and lifestyles for shrimping the coastal areas.

Once shrimpers were equipped with trawls, they could fish the dense shrimp pods found in deeper bay waters and the Gulf of Mexico. Improvements in transportation and refrigeration accompanied the growth of the shrimp fishery into new market areas. Today the modern Gulf trawler are large, well-equipped seagoing vessel that can tow two or more large trawls at once.

Since redfish, sea-trout and most saltwater game-fish feed heavily on shrimp, live shrimp became a very big business for bait shops catering to sport anglers, and the bait shrimpers had to make 10 to 20 drags a day to keep up with the demand. Bait camps hold their live shrimp in watertight pens made of fiberboard, plywood or concrete. Small pens, 4x4x8 feet hold up to 30 to 80 quarts of shrimp. Large pens hold up to 100 quarts, and at almost $20 a quart the profit margin is huge.

Because of the rising cost of bait shrimp cast-nets became popular with sport anglers who choose to catch their own bait shrimp. But cast nets are limited for use near the shoreline or in shallow bays before the angler can successfully catch shrimp with sport nets. Check the rules and regulations in the TP&WD booklet before using cast nets.

The Texas shrimp fishery is a trust of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, with fisheries biologists involved in shrimp sampling programs to safeguard the quantity and quality of shrimp in Texas coastal waters. This information is then used to manage the shrimp fishery more efficiently, which eventually puts that shrimp delicacy on your plate for you to enjoy or for baiting your fishing hook to catch that elusive trophy.

Shrimp are very important to the coastal economy of Texas which is why TP&WD puts very strict rules and regulations on the shrimp fishery. For with no shrimp on your plate or no shrimp on your hook, the commerce of Texas would take a severe hit.