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From 2007 to 2019, the southeastern U.S. shrimp fishery's mandatory observer program has collectively observed 1,766 U.S. Gulf of Mexico and southeastern U.S. Atlantic penaeid otter trawl, rock shrimp, and skimmer trawl trips. During observed shrimp trips, the program documented interactions with sea turtles, marine mammals, sawfish, giant manta rays, sturgeons, and seabirds. Spatial and temporal distribution of sea turtle interactions manifested higher numbers of mortalities off the coasts of Louisiana, Texas, and the southern waters of west Florida. Of the 280 sea turtles captured, 233 were alive at release. Marine mammal interactions, though low in number (n =16), resulted in near-total mortality. Habitat range of sawfish overlapped with fishery effort, resulting in captures (n =17) off Florida's coast with over 50% being released alive. Documentation of giant manta ray interactions began in 2019 and showed a higher occurrence in the southeastern U.S. Atlantic shrimp fishery relative to Gulf shrimp. The Gulf shrimp fishery off Louisiana and the southeastern U.S. Atlantic shrimp fishery off the coasts of the Carolinas and Georgia reported the capture of 14 sturgeons with close to 80% survival rate at release. Reporting of all captured seabird species was required; however, reports were low totaling 15. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fishery observers collected data from 307 tows during 96 trips aboard skimmer trawl vessels in Louisiana's coastal waters from September 2004 through June 2005 to estimate catch rates of target and nontarget species, including sea turtles (Cheloniidae and Dermochelyidae), by area and season during commercial shrimping operations. About 16,965.7 kg of total catch were recorded during 517.0 hours of fishing operations. Based on weight extrapolations from species composition samples, penaeid shrimp (Penaeidae) dominated the catch at 66%, followed by finfish at 19%, nonpenaeid shrimp crustaceans at 7%, discarded penaeid shrimp at 6%, and debris at 3%. Noncrustacean invertebrates comprised less than 1%. Catch rates in kilograms per hour by category was 21.6 for penaeid shrimp, 6.2 for finfish, 2.2 for nonpenaeid crustaceans, 1.8 for discarded penaeid shrimp, and 0.9 for debris. White shrimp, Litopenaeus setiferus, other penaeid shrimp, and Gulf menhaden, Brevoortia patronus, were the top three dominant species by weight. Seasonally, a higher catch rate was observed from May through August 2005 for penaeid shrimp as compared with the September through December 2004 period. Conversely, the September through December 2004 period experienced a higher catch rate for finfish than during May through August 2005. No sea turtle interactions were documented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]