"The Shrimp and Bottomfish Workshop was convened in an attempt to determine the best research approach to understanding and defining the interactions between penaeid shrimp and bottomfish communities in the Gulf of Mexico. The shrimp fishery of the Gulf of Mexico is the most valuable fishery in the continental United States. The major shrimp trawl fisheries are located in the northcentral and northwestern Gulf of Mexico, overlap- ping the major concentrations of bottomfishes (primarily sciaenids) in the northcentral Gulf. The fisheries are not mutually exclusive, since ' each takes incidental catches of the other. Shrimp and bottcmfishes are found at different abundance levels on the inshore and offshore fishery grounds but utilize similar inshore nursery areas. Recruitment of both species groups overlaps in time and space. The impacts of the inshore and offshore shrimp fisheries on bottomfish biomass are unknown. Furthermore, at this time the predator/prey relationships between shrimp and bottomfishes on the continental shelf are poorly understood"--Introduction.

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