CCA-Louisiana criticizes LWFC following latest decision on a pogie buffer zone

Published 4:00 pm Sunday, January 16, 2022

BATON ROUGE — The wishes of many Louisiana legislators, coastal businesses, conservation organizations and so many fishermen fell on deaf ears Jan. 6.

Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana Executive Director David Cresson said as much after a decision made the first week of January.

Despite hundreds of public comments urging the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission to create a ½-mile buffer zone restricting industrial menhaden (also known as pogies) harvest across the state’s Gulf Coast rather than a ¼-mile buffer zone passed Oct. 7 on a 4-3 vote by the LWFC, commissioners voted in favor of a Notice of Intent keeping the ¼-mile buffer zone and added an amendment removing the buffer zone outside the “Double Rig Line” within Breton Sound and Chandeleur Sound.

Cresson said the commission chose foreign pogie boats over conservation. He called the latest decision “terrible.”

CCA-Louisiana and the Louisiana Charter Boat Association led a campaign in the weeks leading up to the recent meeting urging supporters to submit public comment requesting the commission amend the NOI from Oct. 7 and create a minimum ½-mile buffer zone to protect the state’s surf zone.

“LDWF and the commission received hundreds of comments expressing concerns about the insufficient ¼(-mile) buffer distance and the negative impacts that menhaden harvest has on other coastal species. Those concerns were clearly disregarded in the virtual setting of the most recent commission meeting,” Cresson said.

The ¼-mile menhaden harvest exclusion zone was proposed by the pogie industry itself, a move many consider to be an effort to avoid legitimate conservation measures and mitigate “user conflict,” according to Cresson. He also said the ¼-mile buffer zone was able to move forward without opposition because of strong support from the administration of Gov. John Bel Edwards.

The Congressional Sportsman’s Foundation’s Southeastern States coordinator, Mark Lance, also took notice of the recent unanimous vote amending the NOI to establish the ¼-mile buffer by excluding Breton Sound and Chandeleur Sound. Unlike other Gulf Coast States before the vote Oct. 7, Louisiana did not have any geographic zones where the commercial taking of menhaden would be prohibited aside from handshake agreements between the industry and recreational fishermen, he wrote in a prepared statement released Jan. 10.

While Lance said the passage of a ¼-mile exclusion can be seen as a step in the right direction as it gives some protection for the state’s recreational fishing community and fragile coastline, there are major concerns that a ¼-mile restriction is insufficient to adequately limit the impacts from nearshore commercial pogie fishing operations.

A prepared statement released Jan. 10 by the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries explained the proposed changes would install a coastal wide buffer of ¼-mile from the established inside outside line (the line that separates Louisiana’s inshore waters from offshore waters). Also, the area beginning at the eastern shore of Belle Pass to the eastern shore of Caminada Pass would require a 1-mile buffer zone, the area from the eastern shore of Caminada Pass to the eastern shore of Barataria Pass would require a 3-mile buffer zone and the area from the eastern shore of Barataria Pass to the eastern end of Grand Terre Island would require a 1-mile buffer zone.

The news release also noted the NOI was introduced due to user conflicts between private recreational and charter boat anglers and the commercial menhaden fishery. The state agency declared the Gulf of Mexico stock of menhaden is not overfished and is not being overfished.

Also, according to the state agency’s prepared statement, scientific studies have estimated the bycatch of recreationally important species such as redfish and speckled trout is minimal, regardless the status of those populations.

A public hearing on the proposed changes will be held by the LDWF at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 22 at LDWF headquarters in Baton Rouge. Results from the public hearing will be presented to the LWFC on March 3.

Cresson and CCA-Louisiana said the fight for conservation in this issue is far from over. He encourages sport fishermen and conservationists to contact their legislators, submit public comment and/or attend the public hearing, which is scheduled to be in-person.

Public comment can be sent to comments@wlf.la.gov. To find your local legislators, go to www.legis.la.gov./legis/Bios .aspx?cid=S.