Image courtesy of Chesapeake Bay Foundation
From The Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP)
In the most significant Gulf menhaden conservation outcome to date, Louisiana’s Wildlife and Fisheries Commission has approved a half-mile coast-wide buffer prohibiting pogy boats from netting, and also increased fish spill penalties. This comes after a compromise was reached last week by conservation organizations and industrial menhaden companies.
Conserving and protecting Louisiana’s vast but diminishing coastal fisheries and critical barrier islands, beaches, and marshes has been the goal of TRCP’s Gulf Menhaden Coalition for the last five years. This coalition of recreational fishing, wildlife/habitat conservation, and boating organizations has worked to expand public awareness about the impacts of the Gulf of Mexico’s industrial menhaden fishery and advocate for some basic conservation measures, such as the ones now being implemented.
TRCP has consistently worked with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, concerned anglers, charter captains, conservationists, lawmakers at every level, and the menhaden industry itself to enact meaningful regulations. The commission deserves a lot of credit for recognizing the validity of the coalition’s concerns and taking a big step forward in protecting Louisiana’s coast.
The commission voted to allow the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to implement the new regulations immediately, ahead of the menhaden season’s start on April 15, 2024. While this decision is technically still a Notice of Intent, which must go through a 30-day oversight period where Legislative Oversight Committees may choose to review it and make alternative recommendations, it already has support from both sides and also from policymakers.
Map courtesy of TRCP