BATON ROUGE, La. — February 20, 2014 — A new gelatin-like bait using shrimp waste could improve the way blue crabs are caught along the coast of Louisiana and add value to the state’s shrimp processing industry, an LSU researcher says.
Julie Anderson, a crustacean specialist with the LSU AgCenter, is working on a crab bait that could replace Atlantic menhaden, the current bait used.
The menhaden, also known as pogy, is shipped from the East Coast, Anderson said, but stocks are declining. The Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission put a limit on how much menhaden can be caught. Anderson said this is driving up the price of Atlantic menhaden.
Menhaden also is caught in the Gulf of Mexico, but it is rarely used for bait.
“Gulf-caught menhaden is valuable as its own separate fishery,” she said. “There are some fishermen that used to sell it as bait, but it is more valuable to use as Omega-3 oils – fish oils – that it is just not worthwhile to sell as bait."