Saving Seafood

Louisiana responds to report alleging misspending of BP money for fish testing

September 23, 2016 — KENNER, La. —The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is now reviewing a draft report by the Louisiana legislative auditor which blasts it for misspending money intended to test seafood after the BP spill.

The report says the department spent oil spill recovery money on things like cameras, iPads and boats instead of testing fish. It also alleges that some samples sat for weeks before testing.

The quality of Louisiana seafood was a major concern immediately after the BP oil spill, and the seafood industry felt the impact.

“We had a huge problem with perception after the spill,” said veteran seafood dealer Harlon Pearce with LA Fish.

Seafood sales dropped, and the industry went to great pains in a bid to ensure the fish weren’t contaminated.

“We closed a lot of areas ahead of time just to be sure,” Pearce said.

But six months after the spill there were reports of tainted seafood.

“In the oysters we collected there were up to 8,000 to 12,000  parts per million oil range organics, and they were not visibly oiled oysters,” said microbiologist Wilma Subra, speaking to FOX 8 in February of 2011.

At the time state fisheries officials vouched for the catch.

“What we’ve seen are low base levels. All seafood has natural levels,” said Randy Pausina with the LDWF.

But a new draft report from the legislative auditor obtained by the Associated Press calls into question state tests. The report says the LDWF misspent a portion of $10.5 million BP provided for a seafood safety program, alleging that money intended for testing was spent on unnecessary items.

“It always concerns you when people say money was spent wrong. That concerns me,” said Pearce.

He said he never saw any bad seafood. In fact, six years after the spill, his Kenner fish house has added 10,000 square feet to ship Louisiana seafood to half the U.S.

“We probably added two million pounds a year since the expansion,” Pearce said.

The draft report says the LDWF engaged in insufficient sampling after the spill, but Pearce said from his perspective, that wasn’t the case. While he couldn’t comment on  the quality of the tests, he said between the state and the Food and Drug Administration, he remembers more sampling of seafood than normal.

Read the full story at KSLA

Report questions Louisiana fish safety testing

September 22, 2016 — BATON ROUGE, La. — Gulf oil spill recovery money intended for testing to ensure fish caught off Louisiana were safe for consumers instead paid for unnecessary iPads, cameras, boats and now-missing fishing equipment, state auditors said, calling the safety program so mismanaged it couldn’t even declare if the catch was fit to eat.

Energy giant BP PLC gave Louisiana millions of dollars for the program aimed at restoring confidence in the state’s multibillion-dollar seafood industry after a massive oil spill fouled the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. But auditors said they believe hundreds of thousands of dollars were misspent.

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office found “insufficient sampling of fish for contamination from the oil spill, excessive costs and missing property” in part of the $10.5 million BP-financed seafood safety program overseen by the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in the years after the spill.

A preliminary draft of the auditor’s report, which hasn’t been released publicly, was obtained by The Associated Press.

Beyond problems with the seafood safety program, the auditors say they found widespread financial issues across the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries: questionable purchases, free-wheeling spending with little oversight and missing fishing equipment, drones, guns and other items that belong to the state. And it said the department’s management and employees may have violated the agency contract with BP “and state law” in the fish testing program.

“Overall, our procedures identified a lack of management oversight over LDWF funds and operations,” Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera’s office says in the draft report, which notes the findings are subject to further review and revision.

Purpera said Wednesday the draft was being circulated for responses from agency officials. Changes could be made before the public release of the audit within the next two weeks, he said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at KOAM

LOUISIANA: Embattled Melancon says governor supports his red snapper strategy

September 16, 2016 — Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Charlie Melancon called a full staff meeting Thursday, where he attempted to rally employees behind his leadership in the midst of ongoing challenges facing the agency.

“There’s some good news for some, and some bad news for others,” he told the crowd gathered at the department’s Baton Rouge headquarters. “The good news, for the majority, I believe, is I am here for the duration. Some people have exaggerated … my demise.

“For some, the bad news is I am here for the duration.”

Melancon has drawn heat in recent months, particularly from the recreational-fishing community, over his handling of red snapper management. The previous administration, headed by Secretary Robert Barham, pushed to transfer management authority of the popular reef fish to the five Gulf states, but Melancon has expressed his desire to maintain the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s control of the fish.

Read the full story at The Times-Picayune

LOUISIANA: Shrimpers may face new turtle-protection rules

September 14, 2016 — New rules aimed at preventing endangered sea turtles from getting caught and killed in shrimp nets could have an impact on local fishermen.

Federal officials are revising the rules dealing with turtle-excluder devices used in shrimp nets in a court settlement with an international conservation group. In its lawsuit, Oceana alleged that the federal government violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to:

— Determine whether shrimping in the Southeast puts sea turtles at risk of extinction.

— Monitor fishing’s impact on sea turtles.

— Set a limit on how many sea turtles can be caught and killed.

As part of the settlement, the federal government agreed to propose revised regulations by Dec. 15.

“Year after year, the federal government allows tens of thousands of sea turtles to drown in shrimp trawl nets in the Gulf and Atlantic in violation of federal law,” Oceana campaign director Lora Snyder said Monday in a news release. “Oceana is pleased that the Obama administration has finally recognized its responsibility to take action to recover these amazing and vulnerable creatures before it’s too late, and we hope the rule will do just that.”

Read the full story at Houma Today 

LOUISIANA: LDWF snapper-management cost estimate undermined

September 13, 2016 — The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ contention that state-run management of red snapper would cost more than $10 million in its first year alone was undermined Wednesday when Congressional officials confirmed the federal government would still pay for stock assessments and research efforts in the Gulf of Mexico — absorbing most of the LDWF cost estimate.

The news came during LDWF’s “Red Snapper Education Day” that featured speakers hand-picked by the department to inform members of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission and the general public on the status of the snapper fishery.

The department, led by Secretary Charlie Melancon, has come under fire from recreational anglers since midsummer for opposing H.R. 3094, which would remove management of Gulf red snapper from the federal government and award it to the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority, a group comprised of representatives from each of the five states.

Congressman Garret Graves (R-Baton Rouge) sponsored the bill.

Recreational anglers — who received an 11-day federal snapper season in the Gulf this summer — have long complained the federal system is highly-politicized, mismanaged and favors commercial fishermen.

The prior LDWF administration labored for years to strip management from the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, and worked closely with Graves as the bill made its way through the Congressional process.

Melancon contended in June that an amendment offered by U.S. House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) to eliminate from the bill federal funding of state management was a “poison pill” designed to kill the legislation in Washington, D.C.

Read the full story at Louisiana Sportsman

LOUISIANA: Oyster shortage causes closed harvest areas

September 12, 2016 — GRETNA, La. — The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says the state’s oyster industry is suffering and as a result, several harvesting areas will be off-limits.

WDSU-TV reports (http://bit.ly/2cjCgEK) that oyster season opened Wednesday in parts of Louisiana. However, a low oyster population is causing problems for oyster farmers.

Factors contributing to the low resources include too much fresh water in the areas in which the oysters grow and the 2010 Gulf oil spill.

Oyster farmer Matthew Lepetich says he believes the oyster stock never recovered after Hurricane Katrina.

LOUISIANA: Red snapper dispute continued at Wednesday meeting

September 8, 2016 — The war of words continued Wednesday during an all-day meeting in Baton Rouge designed to educate members of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission on red snapper management.

A surrogate of Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, presented a letter declaring states would not be responsible for research funding under HR 3094, a bill authored by Graves and Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, that would transfer management authority to Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

That directly contradicted charges made by Charlie Melancon, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, that the bill became an unfunded mandate when Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, tacked an amendment to it.

“Amending things to death is how you kill a bill,” Melancon told the crowd of industry leaders and interested anglers Wednesday. “What was done to (HR 3094) was an attempt to kill the bill.”

But Paul Sawyer, Graves’ chief of staff, presented a letter, signed by Bishop, stating that his amendment merely banned the transfer of funds to the states for fisheries research because that research would continue to be conducted by NOAA Fisheries.

“Existing NOAA data collection on red snapper stocks is unaffected by my amendment, and nothing precludes the federal government from sharing that data or existing research activities with the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority to inform and assist with state management,” Bishop said in the letter.

Read the full story at The Times Picayune

LOUISIANA: Oyster farmers brace for slow season; shortages close harvest areas

September 8, 2016 — JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — Oyster season opened Wednesday, but only in parts of Louisiana. Reports from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries do not look good for oyster stock or oyster farmers.

Louisiana is the biggest oyster-producing state in the nation. According to figures from 2014, it is a $317 million industry employing about 3,500 people. But the industry is suffering, and several harvesting areas will be off-limits because of shortages.

Factors contributing to the low resources include too much fresh water in the areas in which the oysters grow and the 2010 Gulf Oil spill, which has led to a steady decline in production.

“It’s getting worse and worse, and I don’t know where it goes from here,” said Matthew Lepetich, a second-generation oyster farmer and owner of Mato’s Premium Oysters. “I remember this time of the year, right after Labor Day, we were getting the boats ready and we were going to work.”

On opening day of this season, however, Lepetich was nowhere near the water, “because there’s no season. There’s no seed. There’s no oyster. There’s nothing, and it’s been that way for several years. Ever since Katrina, it never really recovered because Katrina knocked holes in the levee and they haven’t filled them,” he said.”

Read the full story at WDSU

LOUISIANA: Red Snapper Season Will Close September 5

August 29, 2016 — The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) announced that the state recreational red snapper season will close at 11:59 p.m. on September 5, 2016.

Preliminary estimates from the LA Creel survey indicate that the Department’s self-imposed quota of 1,116,732 pounds of red snapper for the private and charter sectors of the recreational fishery is projected to be harvested by September 5, 2016. Closing the season in state waters avoids an overrun of the overall Gulf of Mexico recreational quota and allows the red snapper stock to continue rebuilding. The Secretary of the Department has the authority to re-open the recreational season, as has been done in previous years, for additional recreational harvest if finalized landings data indicate such harvest would be within conservation targets.

The state red snapper season, which opened on January 8, allowed anglers an opportunity to harvest recreational red snapper for 242 days in state waters.

Read the full story at The Outdoor Wire