June 8, 2026 — This article is brought to you by the Louisiana Commercial Fisheries Coalition LLC.
Louisiana’s menhaden fishery is often scrutinized from afar, which makes it easy to forget that behind the headlines are working families, multi-generational fishing operations, and blue-collar jobs in coastal communities like Plaquemines and Vermilion parishes, and localities in between, that depend on this resource.
That is why the commercial menhaden fishery approached this legislative session with a simple goal: work cooperatively with lawmakers on practical, science-based measures that improve transparency, reporting, and accountability, without inflicting unnecessary harm on the people who make their living on the water.
That is exactly what happened.
Lawmakers considered several proposals this session impacting where the menhaden fleet operates. The debate was sometimes heated, and some advocates cast the fishing industry as a villain. But our industry listened, engaged, and worked with the Legislature to advance reasonable measures while opposing proposals that would have imposed severe economic harm.
The Legislature chose to strengthen oversight and public confidence through better reporting, clearer accountability, and vessel-tracking requirements, while rejecting an approach that would have pushed the fishery into an unworkable corner.
First, HB 872 requires purse seine vessels engaged in commercial menhaden reduction fishing, to use Automatic Identification Systems. The larger steamers or mother ships are already equipped with the technology. AIS creates a vessel-location record that can support enforcement, improve accountability, and answer whether boats are respecting established boundaries. It will require industry investment in equipment, installation, maintenance, and compliance, but it is a practical and transparent bill.