Saving Seafood

LOUISIANA: Red snapper season dominates LWFC meeting

July 8, 2017 — The dire prediction from two state fishery managers that recreational anglers would catch Louisiana’s self-imposed limit of red snapper by early July did not materialize after information was provided during Thursday’s Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting.

Jason Adriance, the state Wildlife and Fisheries biologist who reports to the LWFC on such matters, told the seven-member commission Louisiana fishermen took less than half of the 1.04 million pounds of red snapper during the early three-day federal season and a special weekends-only season struck between congressmen and the U.S. Department of Commerce.

That 1.04 figure comes from data showing Louisiana’s recreational take is 14 percent of the overall catch from Gulf waters when extracted from the annual recreational catch quota mandated by federal fisheries managers.

The special recreational season opened June 9, and came after the June 1-3 season in federal waters, the shortest-ever recreational red snapper season.

The congressional push, which was acknowledged to be led by Reps. Garret Graves and Steve Scalise, both Louisiana Republicans, gave the five Gulf states three options from which a 39-day season was put in place to run Fridays-through-Sundays with exceptions adding July 3-4 and Labor Day, Sept. 4, to the open season, which is to close Sept. 4.

Adriance’s presentation indicated the recreational catch, derived from its LA Creel data, came up just short of 500,000 pounds, and said that number didn’t include catches from the four-day Fourth of July period.

Read the full story at The Acadiana Advocate

Pilot program would give Louisiana control of red snapper stocks for three years

May 8, 2017 — The head of the Fisheries Division of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries on Thursday told the board that regulates his agency he’s optimistic Louisiana may get to manage red snapper in federal waters off the state’s coast in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Patrick Banks updated the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission about a proposal he made to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council that would establish a pilot program allowing Louisiana to manage red-snapper stocks in both state and federal waters off its coast for three years. By an 11 to 5 vote, the council approved the proposal, which gives Louisiana the go-ahead to flesh it out into an actual amendment that would ultimately need to be approved by the advisory panel.

“It’s not everything we want, but it’s certainly a better ride than what we’ve got right now,” Banks told the commission.

Details of the plan must still be worked out, and Banks said it’s possible the council will alter the ultimate amendment so much it will look nothing like what’s originally proposed. But his intention is to allow Louisiana to set seasons and regulations out to 200 nautical miles off the coast during the three years of the pilot program to demonstrate how regional management might work.

Banks cautioned, however, that wouldn’t mean a 365-day season with high daily limits.

Under the proposal, state anglers would get access to Louisiana’s historical catch, which is 15.8 percent of the total Gulf recreational red snapper quota. Based on current numbers, that would be about 1.1 million pounds of red snapper.

Since more waters would be open to anglers from the Texas to Mississippi state lines, Louisiana’s share of the quota would be much more quickly reached than under the current management regimen. In 2016, the federal season was only 11 days, but state waters were open to red snapper harvest for nearly nine months.

Read the full story at the Times-Picayune

LOUISIANA: Red snapper presentation tops LWFC agenda

April 6, 2017 — Although listed among the items deep into the agenda for the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, the entitled “Receive input on Red Snapper Management from members of the Louisiana commercial, charter, and private recreational sectors,” likely will highlight Thursday’s monthly meeting.

Chairman Chad Courville is scheduled to open the meeting at 1:30 p.m. in the Louisiana Room of state Wildlife and Fisheries headquarters on Quail Drive in Baton Rouge.

It was Courville who asked for the red snapper presentation saying he and the other six commission members needed further delineation on the wants and needs of these user groups in order to determine the future of the state’s approach to red snapper management.

In another top item, the LWFC will call on State Shrimp Program manager Jeff Marx for a presentation on the program’s operation, then discuss the possibility of a special late April meeting to set the spring inshore shrimp season. For most of the past 40 years, the commission met in the first week of May to consider the spring season’s opening dates in three coastal zones.

The LWFC will also receive final public comment, then undertake formal adoption of the 2017-2018 hunting seasons and regulations for resident and migratory game, and dates and rules for the same time frame on the more than 1 million acres of state wildlife management areas and federal lands.

Read the full story at The Advocate

LOUISIANA: Season opens early for bait fish to meet demand

March 6, 2017 — The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission  announced a  Declaration of Emergency to open the commercial season for the harvest of bait menhaden starting Wednesday, March 15, 2017.

The actions on this declaration by the LWFC comes after request from the bait menhaden industry.

The commercial season for the harvest of bait menhaden typically opens on November 1 and runs through November 30 with a 3,000 metric ton quota. In the event that quota is not harvested during the normal November season, the bait season may resume April 1 of the following year.

Read the full story at KATC

Crabbers: Blue crab moratorium will hurt workers, customers

February 21, 2017 — Beginning February 20, Louisiana will enact a first-ever, statewide closure of blue crab fisheries. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says the crab stock is dangerously close to over-harvest and this break will give the population more time to grow.

The harvest restrictions are for immature blue female crabs, except those being held for processing of softshell crabs. According to the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, the restrictions should help reduce the fishing pressure on the blue crab stock and encourage a stronger population when the ban ends March 21, 2017.

The statewide shutdown of the Louisiana crab fishery is new, and crabbers say holding the ban in the spring leaves many of them without work. Crabbers also argue it leaves customers without a Lenten favorite.

Crab will not be completely missing from local menus or markets. Crab from outside Louisiana will still be available, although crabbers said they predict the price for blue crab meat will increase and could come at a lower quality.

The 30-day closure of the commercial harvest and the use of crab traps will go into effect in 2017 and last through 2019.

Read the full story at WWLTV