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: Social media erupts over plan to kill fish-tagging program

December 1, 2016 — Louisiana’s recreational anglers have been in an uproar since learning Wednesday morning that the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries intends to do away with its popular fish-tagging program. Social-media users have been blasting the department’s administration, especially Secretary Charlie Melancon and Assistant Secretary Patrick Banks, who runs the Office of Fisheries.

The story posted Wednesday on NOLA.com that announced the change has been shared all over Facebook, with frustrated anglers commenting to express their exasperation with the agency and its leaders.

Following are some of the comments:

Kyle Jon Johnson: Wow. “The program provides no meaningful data” ?!?!? How is that dude (Banks) even in that position?

Steve Kissee: Not about the money. Looks like it’s personal now for Melancon! Classic political maneuver.

Mike Daney: I got my first tag kit in the other day. Haven’t even used it. Really disappointed.

Read the full story at the New Orleans Times-Picayune

Oil From BP Spill Has Officially Entered the Food Chain

November 17, 2016 — Researchers in Louisiana have found carbon from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the feathers and digestive tracts of seaside sparrows, proving for the first time that oil from the disastrous 2010 spill has entered the food chain.

The study, published today in Environmental Research Letters, was conducted by scientists from Louisiana State University and Austin Peay State University in Tennessee. They found oil carbon signatures consistent with the Deepwater Horizon event in each of 10 birds tested.

These marsh-dwelling sparrows inhabit an area known to have been contaminated by the spill. Sediments from the site also tested positive for oil with the same fingerprints as that found in the tested birds.

The Deepwater Horizon accident followed the blowout of the wellhead at the Macondo oil rig and lasted for 87 days. Eleven workers died and 4.9 million barrels of oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. It became the largest oil spill in U.S. history and was called the “worst environmental disaster the U.S. has faced” by White House Energy Adviser Carol Browner.

Oil sheens continued to be seen as much as three years after the event. The source of many were never discovered, but the containment dome failed and had to be plugged in 2012.

The immediate effects of such major spills are readily apparent. Oiled birds, dead fish and beaches covered in crude-oil sludge are often the first, horrific results. Disasters like Exxon Valdez, Deepwater Horizon and the Santa Barbara oil spill damage critical wildlife habitat and destroy fisheries.

Longer-term, the pernicious oil enters the food chain.

Read the full story at EcoWatch

Gulf states get $370M in oil spill funds to restore wetlands

November 16, 2016 — NEW ORLEANS — Five Gulf states still seeking to restore their coastal waters and habitats after the devastating oil spill of 2010 will divvy up nearly $370 million for an array of projects that will create new wetlands, restore fisheries, aid sea turtles and more.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced the grants Tuesday for Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida as those states strive to bounce back from one of the largest environmental disasters in history.

Millions of barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days after an offshore rig fire and explosion in April 2010. British Petroleum, which was found primarily responsible for the spill, has paid billions in cleanup costs, settlements and penalties.

The funding announced Tuesday in New Orleans is the fourth and largest round of grants yet that the foundation — which oversees part of the money from criminal penalties paid by BP and other defendants — is allotting for the Gulf’s recovery. That fund is getting a total of $2.5 billion over five years for projects to repair the damage.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Rocky Mountain Telegram

Menhaden management up for debate

November 15th, 2016 — Interstate fishing managers are hosting public hearings about the future of the menhaden fishery, which they say is in good shape.

Atlantic menhaden, or or pogies, are small fish that swim in large schools and represent a key piece of the ocean’s food chain. They are also fished commercially all along the East Coast, in part because of their use as a dietary supplement and for use as bait. 

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says menhaden are not being overfished and their reproduction is good. The commission is holding a series of hearings about the way it regulates the fishery.

Fishermen typically catch more than 500,000 tons of the fish every year. The fishery was worth more than $114 million in 2014. The largest fisheries are in Virginia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The hearings are set to take place between Nov. 30 and Dec. 20 in cities from Florida to Maine. Regulators are seeking input from fishermen and other stakeholders about how the fishery is managed.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Gloucester Times 

Top official ‘disturbed’ after Louisiana wildlife and fisheries audit finds widespread financial issues

November 15th, 2016 — Louisiana’s wildlife and fisheries secretary said he’s ordered a “complete internal review” of his agency’s operations after auditors found questionable spending, missing state-owned property and shoddy management of finances under past leadership.

“I was very disturbed to learn that (the department) deviated from its core mission and best management practices,” Charlie Melancon, who took over the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries this year, wrote in response to an audit released Monday.

The review by Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera’s office details widespread financial issues across the department under Melancon’s predecessor, raising questions about millions of dollars in spending. For example, auditors say Gulf oil spill recovery money intended for fish testing instead paid for unnecessary iPads, cameras, boats and now-missing fishing equipment.

Draft audit findings had been previously reported by The Associated Press in September. Purpera’s office released the official report publicly Monday, which included Melancon’s response.

The publicly-released audit toned down language used in the draft version that had suggested the fish testing program was so mismanaged that it “cannot ensure that the work accomplished was sufficient” to declare the seafood was safe. Instead, the final version cites a 2015 state health department report that said the sample results found substances that “were below concentrations that could potentially threaten the public’s health.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The 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: Coastal Conservation Association head blasts Wildlife & Fisheries secretary in email

November 3, 2016 — The head of Louisiana’s largest recreational-fishing advocacy group sent his members Wednesday a stinging rebuke of the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries over his support of the current structure of red snapper management in the Gulf of Mexico.

Coastal Conservation Association Executive Director David Cresson said in the emailed message that at the most recent meeting of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, held the week of Oct. 17 in Biloxi, Miss., regulators discussed dropping the recreational season in federal waters next year to only one day.

The 2016 season was initially set at nine days but was extended to 11 days due to widespread bad weather during the short season.

In the missive, Cresson laid some of the blame at the feet of department Secretary Charlie Melancon, who has stated publicly his support for the Gulf Council and expressed strong opposition to HR 3094, a bill working its way through Congress that would transfer management authority to the five Gulf states.

“Inexplicably, Secretary Melancon supports this system,” Cresson wrote. “He even said at the July meeting of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission that ‘the Gulf Council saved the red snapper.’

“Secretary Melancon is mistaken.”

Read the full story at The Times-Picayune

LOUISIANA: Wildlife & Fisheries spent less BP money than it had access to, former secretary’s attorney says

November 3, 2016 — An attorney for former Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham sent a vigorous defense to the state’s Legislative auditor Tuesday arguing that no significant money was wasted by the agency in the months following 2010’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Department practices, especially related to seafood testing and spending habits, during Barham’s tenure have been under investigation by Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera, and preliminary reports have been leaked to the media. Purpera’s office gave Barham until Tuesday to respond to its second preliminary draft report, and in that 11-page defense, attorney Mary Olive Pierson criticized Purpera’s office for conflating how the agency spent BP’s money with a misappropriation of state dollars.

Seven months after the spill, BP and the state of Louisiana agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding, under which the oil company would provide up to $18 million for the department to conduct tissue sampling on fish to determine if Louisiana seafood was safe to consume.

Read the full story at The Times-Picayune

LOUISIANA: Man jailed after taking undersized redfish, LDWF says

November 2, 2016 — The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says it busted a previous fisheries offender this weekend for taking undersized redfish, and booked him into the Plaquemines Parish jail.

According to a department news release, agents made contact with Jonathan Ragas, 54, of Port Sulphur, Sunday near Azalea Drive. When Ragas saw the agents approaching, he picked up a five-gallon bucket containing an unknown number of redfish, and threw most of them in the water, the release said. Agents quickly seized the bucket, and found it to still contain two redfish that were shorter than the state’s 16-inch minimum length requirement, according to the department.

Read the full story at the New Orleans Times-Picayune