Shrimping in Louisiana offshore territorial waters from Southwest Pass west to the eastern side of Four Bayou will close tonight at 6 p.m., and recreation fishing closures could be in the offing depending upon sampling, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries officials announced today (May 6).
Inshore shrimping was not covered by the closure at this point, LDWF’s Marty Bourgeois said.
LDWF head Robert Barham declined to speculate on the odds of recreational fishing closures west of South Pass, but told Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission members that closures certainly were not off the table.
“I don’t want to (implement other fishing closures), but we’ll have to wait and see,” he said. “I want it to stay open as long as it can. I don’t want to close it, but we’re going to take action based on what’s out there.”
Any decision will be based on sampling by LDWF personnel and testing by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
While Barham said he had yet to hear of confirmed reports of oil moving west of South Pass, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts oil will begin moving west of South Pass today.
However, Grand Isle Mayor Carmadelle said media reports of oil near Grand Isle were untrue. Click here to read Carmadelle’s comments.
LDWF officials did tell LouisianaSportsman.com they believed the westward movement of oil was just a matter of time.
The latest emergency shrimping closure, which means shrimping will be prohibited in offshore waters from Four Bayou to the Mississippi state line, is a response to the oil spill associated with the Deepwater Horizon disaster off the mouth of the Mississippi River.
Barham said the action was taken to ensure no tainted seafood enters the marketplace.
In related action, the LWFC approved the inshore shrimp-season season in Zone 2 – with the caveat that Barham has emergency powers to close seasons or lift emergency suspensions as data becomes available.
Under the measure, shrimping will open in Zone 2 on May 10 in all inshore waters not covered by any emergency closure enacted by Barham.
