July 8, 2017 — The dire prediction from two state fishery managers that recreational anglers would catch Louisiana’s self-imposed limit of red snapper by early July did not materialize after information was provided during Thursday’s Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting.
Jason Adriance, the state Wildlife and Fisheries biologist who reports to the LWFC on such matters, told the seven-member commission Louisiana fishermen took less than half of the 1.04 million pounds of red snapper during the early three-day federal season and a special weekends-only season struck between congressmen and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
That 1.04 figure comes from data showing Louisiana’s recreational take is 14 percent of the overall catch from Gulf waters when extracted from the annual recreational catch quota mandated by federal fisheries managers.
The special recreational season opened June 9, and came after the June 1-3 season in federal waters, the shortest-ever recreational red snapper season.
The congressional push, which was acknowledged to be led by Reps. Garret Graves and Steve Scalise, both Louisiana Republicans, gave the five Gulf states three options from which a 39-day season was put in place to run Fridays-through-Sundays with exceptions adding July 3-4 and Labor Day, Sept. 4, to the open season, which is to close Sept. 4.
Adriance’s presentation indicated the recreational catch, derived from its LA Creel data, came up just short of 500,000 pounds, and said that number didn’t include catches from the four-day Fourth of July period.