The Annual Economic Survey of Federal Gulf Shrimp Permit Holders: Report on the Design, Implementation, and Descriptive Results for 2006

This technical memorandum documents the design, implementation, data preparation, and descriptive results for the 2006 Annual Economic Survey of Federal Gulf Shrimp Permit Holders. The data collection was designed by the NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center Social Science Research Group to track the financial and economic status and performance by vessels holding a federal moratorium permit for harvesting shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico. A two page, self-administered mail survey collected total annual costs broken out into seven categories and auxiliary economic data. In May 2007, 580 vessels were randomly selected, stratified by state, from a preliminary population of 1,709 vessels with federal permits to shrimp in offshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The survey was implemented during the rest of 2007. After many reminder and verification phone calls, 509 surveys were deemed complete, for an ineligibility-adjusted response rate of 90.7%. The linking of each individual vessel’s cost data to its revenue data from a different data collection was imperfect, and hence the final number of observations used in the analyses is 484. Based on various measures and tests of validity throughout the technical memorandum, the quality of the data is high. The results are presented in a standardized table format, linking vessel characteristics and operations to simple balance sheet, cash flow, and income statements. In the text, results are discussed for the total fleet, the Gulf shrimp fleet, the active Gulf shrimp fleet, and the inactive Gulf shrimp fleet. Additional results for shrimp vessels grouped by state, by vessel characteristics, by landings volume, and by ownership structure are available in the appendices. The general conclusion of this report is that the financial and economic situation is bleak for the average vessels in most of the categories that were evaluated. With few exceptions, cash flow for the average vessel is positive while the net revenue from operations and the “profit” are negative. With negative net revenue from operations, the economic return for average shrimp vessels is less than zero. Only with the help of government payments does the average owner just about break even. In the short-term, this will discourage any new investments in the industry. The financial situation in 2006, especially if it endures over multiple years, also is economically unsustainable for the average established business. Vessels in the active and inactive Gulf shrimp fleet are, on average, 69 feet long, weigh 105 gross tons, are powered by 505 hp motor(s), and are 23 years old. Three-quarters of the vessels have steel hulls and 59% use a freezer for refrigeration. The average market value of these vessels was $175,149 in 2006, about a hundred-thousand dollars less than the average original purchase price. The outstanding loans averaged $91,955, leading to an average owner equity of $83,194. Based on the sample, 85% of the federally permitted Gulf shrimp fleet was actively shrimping in 2006. Of these 386 active Gulf shrimp vessels, just under half (46%) were owner-operated. On average, these vessels burned 52,931 gallons of fuel, landed 101,268 pounds of shrimp, and received $2.47 per pound of shrimp. Non-shrimp landings added less than 1% to cash flow, indicating that the federal Gulf shrimp fishery is very specialized. The average total cash outflow was $243,415 of which $108,775 was due to fuel expenses alone. The expenses for hired crew and captains were on average $54,866 which indicates the importance of the industry as a source of wage income. The resulting average net cash flow is $16,225 but has a large standard deviation. For the population of active Gulf shrimp vessels we can state with 95% certainty that the average net cash flow was between $9,500 and $23,000 in 2006. The median net cash flow was $11,843. Based on the income statement for active Gulf shrimp vessels, the average fixed costs accounted for just under a quarter of operating expenses (23.1%), labor costs for just over a quarter (25.3%), and the non-labor variable costs for just over half (51.6%). The fuel costs alone accounted for 42.9% of total operating expenses in 2006. It should be noted that the labor cost category in the income statement includes both the actual cash payments to hired labor and an estimate of the opportunity cost of owner-operators’ time spent as captain. The average labor contribution (as captain) of an owner-operator is estimated at about $19,800. The average net revenue from operations is negative $7,429, and is statistically different and less than zero in spite of a large standard deviation. The economic return to Gulf shrimping is negative 4%. Including non-operating activities, foremost an average government payment of $13,662, leads to an average loss before taxes of $907 for the vessel owners. The confidence interval of this value straddles zero, so we cannot reject, with 95% certainty, that the population average is zero. The average inactive Gulf shrimp vessel is generally of a smaller scale than the average active vessel. Inactive vessels are physically smaller, are valued much lower, and are less dependent on loans. Fixed costs account for nearly three quarters of the total operating expenses of $11,926, and only 6% of these vessels have hull insurance. With an average net cash flow of negative $7,537, the inactive Gulf shrimp fleet has a major liquidity problem. On average, net revenue from operations is negative $11,396, which amounts to a negative 15% economic return, and owners lose $9,381 on their vessels before taxes. To sustain such losses and especially to survive the negative cash flow, many of the owners must be subsidizing their shrimp vessels with the help of other income or wealth sources or are drawing down their equity. Active Gulf shrimp vessels in all states but Texas exhibited negative returns. The Alabama and Mississippi fleets have the highest assets (vessel values), on average, yet they generate zero cash flow and negative $32,224 net revenue from operations. Due to their high (loan) leverage ratio the negative 11% economic return is amplified into a negative 21% return on equity. In contrast, for Texas vessels, which actually have the highest leverage ratio among the states, a 1% economic return is amplified into a 13% return on equity. From a financial perspective, the average Florida and Louisiana vessels conform roughly to the overall average of the active Gulf shrimp fleet. It should be noted that these results are averages and hence hide the variation that clearly exists within all fleets and all categories. Although the financial situation for the average vessel is bleak, some vessels are profitable. (PDF contains 101 pages)

Relationship between total length and mouth gap of some commercially important carp fry

The estimated regression equation for total length and mouth gape computed were Log TL = Log 0.23 + 0.663 log MG (vertically) (r = 0.960) and Log TL = Log 0.08 + 0.686 log MG (horizontally) (r = 0.949). In case of rohu average total length from 11350 mm to 23775 mm and mouth gape 805 um to 1225 um (vertically) and 700 um to 1110 um (horizontally) between the first day of mouth opening up to 15 days. The regression equation for total length and mouth gap were Log TL = Log 0.20 + 0.660 log MG (vertically) (r = 0.935) and Log TL = Log 0.02 + 0698 log MG (horizontally) ( r = 0.907). In case of silver carp average total length from 12800 ,urn to 33555 um and mouth gape 690 um to 1210 um (vertically) and 615 um to 1115 um (horizontally) between the first day of mouth opening up to 15 days. The regression equation for total length and mouth gape were Log TL = Log 0.36 + 0.596 log MG (vertically) (r = 0.936) and Log TL = Log 0.26 + 0.607 log MG (horizontally) (r = 0.891). The relationship between total length and mouth gape (vertically and horizontally) of the studied fry were found to be linear and highly significant.

A review on systematic and taxonomic of the Persian Gulf fish species, based on geographical distribution pattern and habitat diversity, using by GIS

During the period from 2011 - 2015 with the aim of this study was to systematically review and in particular the revised classification of the Persian Gulf (and the Strait of Hormuz) and to obtain new information about the final confirmed list of fish species of Iranian waters of the Persian Gulf (and Hormuz Strait), samples of museums, surveys and sampling, and comparative study of all available sources and documentation was done. Classification systematic of sharks and batoids and bony fishes. Based on the results, the final list of approved fish of the Persian Gulf (including the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman border region) are 907 species in 157 families, of which 93 species of fish with 28 cartilaginous families (including 18 families with 60 species and 10 families with 34 species of shark and batoids); and 129 families with 814 species of bony fishes are. The presence of 11 new family with only one representative species in the area include Veliferidae, Zeidae, Sebastidae, Stomiidae, Dalatiidae, Zanclidae, Pempheridae, Lophiidae Kuhliidae, Etmoptridae and Chlorophthalmidae also recently introduced and approved. The two families based Creediidae Clinidae and their larvae samples for newly identified area. 62 families with mono-species and 25 families with more than 10 species are present including Gobiidae (53), Carangide (48), Labride (41), Blenniidae (34), Apogonidae (32) and Lutjanidae (31) of bony fishes, Carcharhinidae (26) of sharks and Dasyatidae (12) in terms of number of species of batoids most families to have their data partitioning. Also, 13 species as well as endemic species introduced the Persian Gulf and have been approved in terms of geographical expansion of the Persian Gulf are unique to the area.Two species of the family Poeciliidae and Cyprinodontidae have species of fresh water to the brackish coastal habitats have found a way;in addition to 11 types of families Carcharhinidae, Clupeidae, Chanidae, Gobidae, Mugilidae, Sparidae also as a species, with a focus on freshwater river basins in the south of the country have been found. In this study, it was found that out of 907 species have been reported from the study area, 294 species (32.4 %) to benthic habitats (Benthic habitats) and 613 species (67.6 %) in pelagic habitats (Pelagic habitats) belong. Coral reefs and rocky habitats in the range of benthic fish (129 species - 14.3 %) and reef associated fishes in the range of pelagic fishes (432 species – 47.8 %), the highest number and percentage of habitat diversity (Species habitats) have been allocated. As well as fish habitats with sea grass and algae beds in benthic habitat (17 species- 1.9 %) and pelagic - Oceanic (Open sea) in the whole pelagic fish (30 species – 3.3 %), the lowest number and percentage of habitat diversity into account. From the perspective of animal geography (Zoogeography) and habitat overlaps and similarities (Habitat overlapping) fish fauna of the Persian Gulf compared with other similar seas (tropical and subtropical, and warm temperate) in the Indian Ocean area - calm on the surface, based on the presence of certain species that the fish fauna of the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea and the Bay of Bengal (East Arabian Sea) compared to other regions in the Indian Ocean (Pacific) is closer (about 50%), and the Mediterranean (East area) and The Hawaiian Islands have the lowest overlap and similarity of habitat and species (about 10%).