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Estimating Natural Mortality Rates of Juvenile White Shrimp Litopenaeus setiferus

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Abstract

Comparisons of natural mortality rates can be used to identify essential habitat and nursery areas for fishery species. We estimated and compared natural mortality rates of juvenile white shrimp Litopenaeus setiferus using length-frequency and mark-recapture data and attempted to identify factors that may affect these mortality rates. Daily instantaneous natural mortality rates (95 % confidence interval (CI)) obtained from length-frequency data by following individual cohorts were 0.043 (0.031–0.054) and 0.014 (0.0–0.039). Combining all length-frequency data, converting to age-frequency data, and using two types of catch-curve analyses yielded estimates of 0.069 (0.042–0.095) and 0.060 (0.046–0.073). Mark-recapture estimates obtained in a separate study from two ponds were 0.129 (0.054–0.203) and 0.014 (−0.048–0.076). These estimates are comparable to previously reported values for this species, but we are the first to report a measure of precision with our estimates. In the mark-recapture study, mortality rates appeared to be related to predator abundance in ponds and flooding patterns of the surrounding marsh. The only mortality rate significantly different from any of the other estimates was the lower of the two length-frequency estimates, but this result should be interpreted with caution because of the uncertainty in that estimate, relative imprecision of our estimates, and confounding factors between the methods we used to estimate mortality. Despite this caveat, the results from our study can be used to improve population models for L. setiferus and our understanding of the role of marsh habitats as nursery areas.

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Acknowledgments

This research was conducted through the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) by personnel from the Galveston Laboratory and the Estuarine Habitats and Coastal Fisheries Center in Lafayette, Louisiana. In particular, we thank Shawn Hillen, Juan Salas, Jennifer Doerr, Rick Hart, and Lainey Broussard for help in the field and Alex Cummings for help processing samples in the laboratory. We would also like to thank David Richard at Stream Wetland Services and the staff at Murphree Wildlife Management Area for providing lodging during the study and the staff of the Texas Point National Wildlife Refuge for access to the field site. We thank Rick Hart for information on white shrimp stock assessments and Phil Caldwell for conducting the GIS analysis needed to weight the length-frequency distributions and for creating Fig. 1. Tom Minello, Ronnie Baker, and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful suggestions that improved the original manuscript. A NOAA Habitat Assessment Improvement Program grant, a Teaching Assistantship from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, a Rockefeller Wildlife Scholarship, a Coastal Conservation Association/Ted Beaulieu Sr. Scholarship, a research grant from the Wetland Foundation, and the NMFS SEFSC provided funding to support this project. The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the NOAA NMFS.

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, P.O. Box 42451, Lafayette, LA, 70504, USA

    Marvin M. Mace III

  2. NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service/SEFSC, Estuarine Habitats and Coastal Fisheries Center, 646 Cajundome Boulevard, Lafayette, LA, 70506, USA

    Lawrence P. Rozas

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  1. Marvin M. Mace III
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Mace, M.M., Rozas, L.P. Estimating Natural Mortality Rates of Juvenile White Shrimp Litopenaeus setiferus . Estuaries and Coasts 38, 1580–1592 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-014-9901-7

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