Many Acadiana outdoorsmen have been voicing their displeasure over a law regarding activity at Marsh Island Wildlife Refuge that went on the books in June 2022.

State Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia, who has heard the rumbles, wants to do something about the requirement to use self-clearing permits to fish or catch shrimp and crabs at the dams inside the refuge six miles south of Cypremort Point. His House Concurrent Resolution 3 to undo that requirement is scheduled to be heard Thursday in Baton Rouge by the House Natural Resources Committee.

Beaullieu, an avid outdoorsman who grew up hunting and fishing in the Teche Area, takes issue with the check-in and check-out language in the law. Since last June, people must utilize self-clearing permits.

The current law reads: “A self-clearing permit is required for all activities on department-administered lands including wildlife refuges.”

Beaullieu seeks to amend the statement to read: “Except for the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge and the Marsh Island Wildlife Refuge.”

Under current law, outdoorsmen are forced to check in/out with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries on their phones or go to the on-site check-in stations.

“If a person does not have a cell phone, or cell coverage, they could be forced to travel miles out of their way to adhere to these new rules,” Beaullieu said Wednesday in a prepared statement. “We need to be encouraging people to spend more time outdoors, not create regulations that make it more difficult to access our natural resources.”

He also said, “The purpose of this resolution is very clear. We don’t need big government watching over our shoulders at every turn. Self-clearing permits are mostly utilized for safety purposes where hunting takes places. We don’t allow hunting on these refuges, so is there is no need to be forced to check in and out. Our outdoors enthusiasts have used these refuges, safely, for generations.”

The 71,000-acre Marsh Island Wildlife Refuge was donated by Margaret Safe in 1920. It is 20 miles long east to west and 11 miles long north to south. Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge is another 71,000-acre refuge donated by the Rockefeller Foundation in 1919.