Saving Seafood

Former congressman to head Louisiana fisheries

January 19, 2016 — Louisiana’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, which governs commercial and recreational fishing in the state, got a new boss in January. Charlie Melancon, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislator, was appointed to the job by the state’s new governor, John Bel Edwards.

Although much of his non-political work in the past has centered on the state’s sugar cane industry, Melancon said he is confident that other experience, including working closely with fishermen when in Congress, has prepared him well for this new challenge.

“My experience is in sitting down at the table and working through problems, that is what I have always brought,” Melancon said. “Whether it’s dating or a marriage or a political relationship, and that is what I have always brought, sitting down and compromising and finding common ground.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

LOUISIANA: First Major Gulf Oyster Hatchery Revs Up Production on Grand Isle

September 14, 2015 — For more than 20-years, the old Grand Isle Sea Grant oyster hatchery and lab faced exposure to every known element the Gulf of Mexico could throw at it. The recently opened Mike Voisin Oyster Hatchery, whose namesake served as a Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries commissioner and chairman of the Louisiana Oyster Task Force, may not face that same exposure to the elements, but instead face new challenges both manmade and natural.

Water quality will be a continuing challenge for the new $3 million dollar hatchery according to John Supan, an oyster specialist with Louisiana Sea Grant, who designed and oversees the facility. “The building’s water system is designed to go into recirculating mode during times when water quality is not optimal. It is one thing to have the system, but making it work will be a big challenge,” he explained.

According to the oyster researcher, periods of low salinity from wind-driven plumes of Mississippi River water, or local heavy rainfall from tropical waves, affects larval production in a hatchery environment.

All About Water Quality

Water quality has plagued the Grand Isle operation since inception. With more than 27 years in the making, the new oyster hatchery is shielded from the elements of the Gulf’s uncertain weather and Supan is confident he has found the solution for the fluctuation of water quality.

An advanced water circulation system and temperature-controlled system allows larvae and spat to be produced year-round. This will be instrumental in meeting the hatchery’s billion oyster larvae a year contract with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF). Larvae produced at the facility will be used for the restoration of public reefs that were damaged after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 and specifically for corrective action towards the state’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment funded cultch plants.

Read the full story at the Gulf Seafood Institute