Saving Seafood

LOUISIANA: Charlie Melancon out as Louisiana wildlife and fisheries secretary

December 15, 2016 –BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana’s wildlife and fisheries secretary, Charlie Melancon, is leaving his leadership post after a short tenure marked with controversy.

Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a statement Wednesday saying: “Charlie and I have agreed that we should move the agency in a different direction.”

A former congressman, Melancon has clashed with recreational fishermen and Republican U.S. Rep. Garret Graves since taking over the job when Edwards’ term began in January.

Melancon’s also run into controversy about programs he cut and changes he made in response to a legislative audit that found shoddy management of agency finances under Melancon’s predecessor.

Melancon hasn’t commented publicly about his exit.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at KTBS

LOUISIANA: Charlie Melancon continues battle with Garret Graves’ bill

October 6, 2016 — Controversy continues to swirl around Charlie Melancon and his state agency’s position on regional management of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico.

The latest for Gov. John Bel Edwards’ appointed top man in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries comes from a Sept. 15 letter Melancon penned to Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, the standing chairman of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee.

In the missive, Melancon continued to decry HR 3094, a bill introduced by Rep. Garret Graves, R-Louisiana, that would hand recreational red snapper management in the Gulf of Mexico to the five Gulf states.

Melancon continued to state his objections to the bill, the same ones he and his staff offered in July, and continued to indicate that Bishop’s amendment passed with HR 3094 would put the onus of data collection on the states despite Bishop’s letter to the LDWF that his amendment did not indicate the states would have to assume the costs of data collection.

Read the full story at The Advocate

Governor of Louisiana opposes red snapper legislation transferring oversight

June 23, 2016 — Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and the state’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries published an open letter on Wednesday, 22 June stating their opposition to legislation proposed by U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-Louisiana) that would transfer oversight over of the Gulf of Mexico’s red snapper fishery from the federal government to those of the Gulf states.

In his letter, the governor said the legislation, H.R. 3094, would not provide funding to allow the state to responsibly manage the fishery.

“H.R. 3094, as recently amended by Congressman Bishop, would not transfer any federal funding to the states to conduct necessary stock assessments, research, data collection, or enforcement. Without federal funding, Louisiana could potentially lack the proper resources to manage the red snapper fishery,” the governor wrote.

“H.R. 3094 would not be a viable option for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. It would be fiscally irresponsible for the department to support any mandate that would result in an unknown amount of fiscal burden placed on the State of Louisiana for the management of a single species of fish,” the statement continued. “As a department, we are charged with managing our fisheries resources for optimum yield; the same applies to our fiscal resources.”

Gov. Edwards, a Democrat, said in his letter that he understood that “some of our user groups are frustrated with the current federal management of red snapper under the authority of NOAA Fisheries and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.”

Ewards said his administration remained, “committed to working with NOAA Fisheries, the Council and its members, and all interested stakeholders to ensure optimum utilization of and fair and equitable access to the red snapper resource.”

“The Department’s goal is to begin a collaborative dialogue with our state and federal partners to find a durable solution to these issues concerning management of the red snapper resource for the public good,” he wrote.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource