Richard A. Kasprzak

A trawl shrimp cage I (TSC), which was a modification of the cod end of a conventional wingnet, was evaluated for its ability to reduce the bycatch associated with shrimping. The webbing of the cod end was stretched around a box-like aluminum frame. This prevented the webbing in the cod end from collapsing under the weight of water pressure and cod end contents, thus releasing undersized shrimp and finfish directly into water. The TSC was evaluated between 6 June 1985 and 13 August 1985 in the estuarine marshes of eastern Louisiana. A 6.4-m aluminum flat bottom boat was outfitted with a...

Food habits of 591 sand seatrout (Cynoscion arenarius) (Ginsburg) from Barataria Bay, Louisiana, were characterized. Overall, fishes and crustaceans were the most important food organisms. Mysid shrimp were dominant food items in sand seatrout <100 mm whereas bay anchovy and brown shrimp were predominate in the larger fish. Sand seatrout generally preyed upon a relatively small number of species or taxonomic groups.