Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission Archives - Page 2 of 2

Louisiana menhaden season to open March 15

March 3, 2017 — The commercial season for the harvest of bait menhaden will open March 15, the state Wildlife and Fisheries Commission decided today.

The season typically runs Nov. 1-20 with a 3,000-metric-ton quota. But when quota is not harvested during the normal season, the agency can reopen the fishery April 1 of the following year.

The bait industry asked the commission to open the season two weeks earlier to meet customer demand, officials said. The quota was not met in 2016, and opening the season two weeks earlier is not expected to negatively impact the quota or regular commercial menhaden season.

Read the full story at Houma Today

Crabbers: Blue crab moratorium will hurt workers, customers

February 21, 2017 — Beginning February 20, Louisiana will enact a first-ever, statewide closure of blue crab fisheries. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says the crab stock is dangerously close to over-harvest and this break will give the population more time to grow.

The harvest restrictions are for immature blue female crabs, except those being held for processing of softshell crabs. According to the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, the restrictions should help reduce the fishing pressure on the blue crab stock and encourage a stronger population when the ban ends March 21, 2017.

The statewide shutdown of the Louisiana crab fishery is new, and crabbers say holding the ban in the spring leaves many of them without work. Crabbers also argue it leaves customers without a Lenten favorite.

Crab will not be completely missing from local menus or markets. Crab from outside Louisiana will still be available, although crabbers said they predict the price for blue crab meat will increase and could come at a lower quality.

The 30-day closure of the commercial harvest and the use of crab traps will go into effect in 2017 and last through 2019.

Read the full story at WWLTV

LOUISIANA: Former LDWF boss claims allegations ‘fabricated’

January 6, 2017 — Former state Wildlife and Fisheries secretary Robert Barham used the public comment period during Thursday’s Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting to refute allegations of misspending and fiscal irresponsibility during his eight years at that post.

Most of the questions center around LDWF spending in the months and years following the BP-Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

The allegations came during Charlie Melancon’s stormy 11-month tenure as head of the state agency. Melancon resigned the position last week, and Gov. J.B. Edwards named state Rep. Jack Montoucet, D-Crowley, to take the post effective Jan. 16.

“I’m here to address the news reports of the last year,” Barham said. “When I took the job (LDWF secretary) eight years ago, the department was entrenched in systematic financial mismanagement.

“It became clear the department would be in the red within a year, and we made programmatic changes through operation and management decisions that we would be four current years in the black.”

Read the full story at the Acadiana Advocate

LOUISIANA: Reef fish dominated Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries commission meeting again

November 4, 2016 — With hunting seasons ready to hit full stride, fishing, once again, dominated Thursday’s Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting in Baton Rouge.

And again, the issues centered on red snapper, the proposed red snapper-takeover plan – also known as regional management – by each of the five Gulf States, and an update on gray triggerfish.

The discussion surfaced during an agenda item that called on Department of Wildlife and Fisheries veteran biologist Myron Fischer’s report on the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s October quarterly meeting held in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Gray triggerfish came first: Fischer told the commission the latest data showed the species continues to hold “overfished” status, that the GMFMC discussed a one-per-day limit, a 15 inches minimum size limit and two closed seasons, the first in January through February and the second to run June through July for the recreational sector, and trip limits for the commercial sector.

Fischer said while public hearings will be held to get input on the species, there is the possibility recreational anglers will face a closed season on gray triggerfish throughout 2017.

Next up was the regional management issue and its relationship to the GMFMC’s newly formed Private Recreational Advisory Panel, a move proposed by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ representative to the council, LDWF assistant secretary Patrick Banks earlier this year.

Fischer said the LDWF made a motion to charge the new panel with “management measures” to include “… more quality access to the resource in federal waters, reduce (undersized) discards, and improve fisheries data collection.”

Read the full story at The Acadiana Advocate

LOUISIANA: LDWF snapper-management cost estimate undermined

September 13, 2016 — The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ contention that state-run management of red snapper would cost more than $10 million in its first year alone was undermined Wednesday when Congressional officials confirmed the federal government would still pay for stock assessments and research efforts in the Gulf of Mexico — absorbing most of the LDWF cost estimate.

The news came during LDWF’s “Red Snapper Education Day” that featured speakers hand-picked by the department to inform members of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission and the general public on the status of the snapper fishery.

The department, led by Secretary Charlie Melancon, has come under fire from recreational anglers since midsummer for opposing H.R. 3094, which would remove management of Gulf red snapper from the federal government and award it to the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority, a group comprised of representatives from each of the five states.

Congressman Garret Graves (R-Baton Rouge) sponsored the bill.

Recreational anglers — who received an 11-day federal snapper season in the Gulf this summer — have long complained the federal system is highly-politicized, mismanaged and favors commercial fishermen.

The prior LDWF administration labored for years to strip management from the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, and worked closely with Graves as the bill made its way through the Congressional process.

Melancon contended in June that an amendment offered by U.S. House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) to eliminate from the bill federal funding of state management was a “poison pill” designed to kill the legislation in Washington, D.C.

Read the full story at Louisiana Sportsman

LOUISIANA: Red snapper dispute continued at Wednesday meeting

September 8, 2016 — The war of words continued Wednesday during an all-day meeting in Baton Rouge designed to educate members of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission on red snapper management.

A surrogate of Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, presented a letter declaring states would not be responsible for research funding under HR 3094, a bill authored by Graves and Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, that would transfer management authority to Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

That directly contradicted charges made by Charlie Melancon, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, that the bill became an unfunded mandate when Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, tacked an amendment to it.

“Amending things to death is how you kill a bill,” Melancon told the crowd of industry leaders and interested anglers Wednesday. “What was done to (HR 3094) was an attempt to kill the bill.”

But Paul Sawyer, Graves’ chief of staff, presented a letter, signed by Bishop, stating that his amendment merely banned the transfer of funds to the states for fisheries research because that research would continue to be conducted by NOAA Fisheries.

“Existing NOAA data collection on red snapper stocks is unaffected by my amendment, and nothing precludes the federal government from sharing that data or existing research activities with the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority to inform and assist with state management,” Bishop said in the letter.

Read the full story at The Times Picayune

Snapper management tops Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting agenda

July 7, 2016 — The issue of red snapper and the development of Louisiana’s plan to manage red snapper for the private sector of recreationally caught red snapper is a top item on Thursday’s agenda for the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission.

The meeting is scheduled to convene at 9:30 a.m. at state Wildlife and Fisheries headquarters on Quail Drive in Baton Rouge.

Furor arose in the past two weeks after Louisiana Congressman Garret Graves’ sponsored bill calling for state management of red snapper for recreational anglers cleared the U.S. House’s Natural Resources Committee.

While not outlined specifically by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Secretary Charlie Melancon nor his staff, Melancon objected to the bill because it did not contain adequate funding for state management of the species.

Read the full story at The New Orleans Advocate

Shrimp season to kick off this month in Louisiana

May 10, 2016 — Starting on 23 May at 6 a.m. local time, inshore shrimpers across the state of Louisiana will be permitted to begin their spring season.

The decision comes from the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, which voted on 5 May to go ahead with a universal opening that won’t be staggered among shrimp zones for the second year in a row, reported Nola.com.

The move to go ahead with an un-staggered opening opposes Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries data, which found that an earlier opening would benefit certain areas such as with the Barataria, Timbalier, Terrebonne and the Vermilion-Teche basins. Shrimp would reach harvestable size in the Barataria, Timbalier and Terrebonne basins on or before 16 May, according to the data presented by department biologist Jeff Marx.

Read the full story from Seafood Source