February 2, 2017 — Gov. John Bel Edwards told a group of recreational anglers Thursday that he was open to state regulation of red snapper fishing off Louisiana’s shore, which some anglers said was a rollback of the governor’s previous wildlife and fisheries leader.
“We ought to be able to regulate ourselves when it comes to fishing,” Edwards told the Coastal Conservation Association Louisiana annual membership luncheon during a 14-minute speech that otherwise was long on hunting and fishing stories and short on policy.
Using population and harvesting data, federal agencies have pressed the Gulf State Marine Fisheries Commission, made up of representatives from the five states bordering the Gulf of Mexico, have limited the red snapper season to nine days and restricted how many fish could be caught.