Louisiana Archives - Page 39 of 42

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

LOUISIANA: Scientists: Saving the coast does not necessarily mean destroying fisheries

August 26, 2016 — George Ricks represents one of the great ironies in the debate over how to restore and protect parts of Louisiana’s rapidly-vanishing coast.

Like many of those who depend most on Louisiana’s estuaries, the charter boat captain is deeply skeptical of the state’s plans to build massive structures and deliver Mississippi River sediment into the marsh with the aim of building land.

“They’re going to turn both of the estuaries, Barataria and Breton, totally fresh from February to July,” said Ricks, “which is going to wipe out our spawning seasons.”

A group of scientists and community experts came together to examine not whether to building diversions, but how they would be operated.

“When people come to New Orleans, they want to eat oysters, they want to eat seafood. they want to eat shrimp,” said Dr. Earl Melancon, Ph.D., a Nicholls State University expert on shellfish.

Melancon was one of a dozen experts who, in essence, tackled the question of whether it is possible to partially free the Mississippi River from its straight jacket of levees without ruining an entire way of life.

Read the full story at Fox 8 New Orleans

LOUISIANA: Rescue in severe weather earns agent prestigious award

August 25, 2016 — The word ‘hero’ is sometimes thrown around too lightly, but no one can argue it doesn’t apply to Nicholas Guillory, a sergeant with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Enforcement Division. As many as eight people are alive today because of Guillory’s actions last September, and his courage earned him a commendation from the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council last week in New Orleans.

During a severe thunderstorm almost a year ago, Guillory received a distress call from a boat taking on water in the Gulf of Mexico near Pecan Island. Conditions were horrendous, but Guillory decided to launch his 19-foot patrol boat and attempt the rescue anyway.

“As I traveled toward the Gulf of Mexico, I couldn’t even see the bow of my own vessel because the rainfall was so heavy,” he said.

Read the full story at the New Orleans Times-Picayune

Mississippi supports regional red snapper management bill

July 25, 2015 — Mississippi is in favor of regional management of red snapper.

The state supports H.R. 3094, known as the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority Act.

U.S. Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana sponsored the 16-page bill on July 16, 2015.

Gov. Phil Bryant sent a letter in support of Graves’ legislation to House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi after federal funding was stripped from the bill last month.

With the bill, the five Gulf states’ chief fish and wildlife officials will be in charge of red snapper management in federal waters.

Read the full story at the Sun Herald

Red snapper talk dominates Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meeting

July 21, 2016 — Red snapper again dominated the most recent Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meeting, and what proponents of separation of the recreational sector into for-hire/charter and private-angler groups called an “experiment” apparently will be become standard operating procedure.

The biggest news was the council backed a proposal by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to establish an Ad Hoc Advisory Panel for Recreational Red Snapper Management set to meet for the first time in January 2017.

This year marked the second year of sector separation (Reef Fish Amendment 45), which granted charters 47 percent of the annual recreational red snapper take from Gulf waters, and there was a three-year sunset provision at the outset. The most recent council vote extended the sunset provision to 2022. This, and all other actions like it, are sent to the U.S. Department of Commerce for review.

Read the full story at The Advocate

Louisiana is only Gulf state not supporting regional red snapper management bill

July 18, 2016 — Louisiana currently stands alone as the only Gulf state indicating it would be unable to afford to oversee red snapper management if oversight authority of the fishery is ultimately stripped away from the federal government.

In interviews with LouisianaSportsman.com, marine fisheries representatives from the other four Gulf states have confirmed they are still supporting H.R. 3094 from Baton Rouge Congressman Garret Graves and had no reservations about moving forward because federal funding was stripped from the bill last month.

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Charlie Melancon said in late June that he opposes Graves’ bill that would strip management of red snapper in the Gulf from federal authority and hand it over to the states. Melancon said his opposition stems from the lack of federal funding.

That wasn’t a concern for the other four Gulf states, however.

“Alabama is prepared to manage the red snapper fishery with or without federal funding. We still think state management is the best idea,” said Chris Blankenship, director of marine resources for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “A lot of the work we’re doing with red snapper, we’re already paying for out of our funds now and providing that information to NOAA for the stock assessments for red snapper.”

Read the full story at the Louisiana Sportsman

NOAA to hold public meetings on proposed sanctuary expansion

July 18, 2016 — BATON ROUGE, La. — Federal wildlife and fisheries regulators have scheduled two meetings in Louisiana to get feedback on their proposal to expand the boundaries of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will convene the public meetings on Tuesday, July 19, at the Hilton New Orleans Airport hotel in Kenner and on Thursday, July 21, at the Estuarine Habitats and Coastal Fisheries Center in Lafayette. Both meetings will be from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the LMT Online

Gulf Council Seeks Applicants for Ad Hoc Red Snapper Panel

July 12, 2016 — The following was released by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council:

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is accepting applications for membership on a newly created Ad Hoc Red Snapper Private Angler Advisory Panel. The charge of the panel is to develop fair and effective ways to mitigate the derby fishing occurring in the private angler component of the red snapper fishery. The panel will meet by January 2017.

Advisory panels are comprised of individuals who are knowledgeable and interested in the conservation and management of the fishery resources, or who are engaged in the harvest of Gulf of Mexico managed species. Membership provides individuals with an opportunity to become more directly involved in the management decision-making process.

Ad hoc advisory panel members are appointed by the Council and will serve a two-year term. Advisory panel members generally meet no more than once or twice per year and are compensated for travel and per diem expenses. Ad Hoc panels operate in the same manner; however, these panels are temporary and are disbanded when the panel charge has been met.

To apply to this Ad Hoc Advisory Panel, complete the online application.

If you have any questions, please call the Council office at 813-348-1630.

Applications must be received by August 5, 2016 for consideration by the Council during its August meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Red snapper management would cost Louisiana $10 million-plus in first year, LDWF says

July 8, 2016 — If red snapper management is ultimately turned over to the individual Gulf states through Garret Graves’ bill currently moving through Congress, the program would come with a $10,039,000 price tag for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in its first year, according to the state’s head fisheries biologist.

The cost estimate was unveiled in Baton Rouge by LDWF Assistant Secretary of the Office of Fisheries Patrick Banks at Thursday’s four-hour meeting of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, where charter fishermen spoke out against the legislation and members of Coastal Conservation Association Louisiana voiced their support for the bill.

The commission took no action on the red snapper presentation or the cost analysis.

“We had a Gulf Council meeting break out,” David Cresson, executive director for CCA Louisiana, said after the meeting. “It was a bit surprising to see representatives from Texas and Florida — representatives of historically anti-recreational groups — show up to give their opinions.

“So it felt a lot like a Gulf Council meeting today. And all the arguments they made sounded just like at the Gulf Council every time.”

Read the full story at the Louisiana Sportsman

Snapper management tops Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting agenda

July 7, 2016 — The issue of red snapper and the development of Louisiana’s plan to manage red snapper for the private sector of recreationally caught red snapper is a top item on Thursday’s agenda for the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission.

The meeting is scheduled to convene at 9:30 a.m. at state Wildlife and Fisheries headquarters on Quail Drive in Baton Rouge.

Furor arose in the past two weeks after Louisiana Congressman Garret Graves’ sponsored bill calling for state management of red snapper for recreational anglers cleared the U.S. House’s Natural Resources Committee.

While not outlined specifically by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Secretary Charlie Melancon nor his staff, Melancon objected to the bill because it did not contain adequate funding for state management of the species.

Read the full story at The New Orleans Advocate