Standing Crops of Fishes of an Estuarine Area In Southwest Louisiana

Standing crop of estuarine fisheries, as determined by extensive rotenone sampling, ranged from 17.6 to 1,605 kg/ha; overall average was 393.8. The most abundant species in numbers were gulf menhaden, Brevoortia patronus (54.6%); anchovies, Anchoa sp. (10.7%); and striped mullet, Mugil cephalus (6.6%). Of the 8,322 kg of fish collected during the study, red drum, Sciaenops ocellata, represented 32.2%, followed by menhaden (16%) and striped mullet (11.5%). First day rotenone samples were not sufficient for quantitating species abundance. Rotenone eollections indicated that trawls were highly selective (P<.01).