Maybe it’s fitting that Louisiana’s second bear-hunting season is coming in December.
Maybe it’s time to remind the folks plagued with our increasing number of black bears that’s it’s not time to poke the bears.
Yep, that’s an old saying — Don’t poke the bear — and, yes, run-ins with bears continue to make the news even in urban environs where bears find easy pickings in their run to load up on calories before the late fall and winter months when their pickings are on the lean side.
Maybe it’s time, too, to remind some elected and appointed folks to avoid poking the bear.
The latest surprise came in the closing minutes of October’s Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission’s very short meeting.
Commission chairman Kevin Sagrera announced his plan to call for a Notice of Intent to amend the recent agreement for a ½-mile buffer zone for the menhaden fishery.
WHAT?
In essence, here’s the bombshell Sagrera dropped: he cited the recent menhaden bycatch study and his charge was to Wildlife and Fisheries managers to work with the menhaden industry and recreational fishing interests for “…modifications to menhaden buffer zones.”
Sagrera further stated he wants to leave the enhanced buffer zones but explore the “…historical fishing grounds to see if they can be adjusted.”
All this, he said, will be on the commission’s November agenda. The meeting is set for Nov. 6 at Wildlife and Fisheries headquarters in Baton Rouge.
Changes on the horizon?
There is no quibbling about what Sagrera wants. He’s seeking to do away with the ½-mile buffer zone which was dictated by Gov. Jeff Landry after recreational and conservation groups pushed for a 1-mile buffer from our coast.
Knowing Sagrera calls Abbeville home, and Abbeville is a center for menhaden fishermen, maybe Sagrera is making a case for “his people.”
That’s not his job. Representing constituents is left for the elected, not the appointed, and Sagrera holds an appointed position.
Guessing we’re wise enough to the ways of Louisiana politics to know Sagrera couldn’t have made this move without Landry’s seal of approval.
Yet, is this move contrary to Sagrera’s statement in his bio on the Wildlife and Fisheries website: “Our family has been a part of Louisiana’s fur industry since the 1930s. But my love for the resource extends beyond the fur and alligator industry; hunting and fishing have been a part of my family since I was a boy. I look forward to giving back to the state that has given us so much and to help preserve our state’s resources for future generations.”
Giving back? To whom?
Menhaden bycatch study
Some of what came from the commission’s July 8 meeting bears repeating, so pardon me if you’ve read this before today.
LGL Ecological Research Associates conducted the menhaden bycatch study. The menhaden catchers were overjoyed when the study showed their operations contained 3.62 percent bycatch, a number below the 5 percent bycatch rate our state allows foreign-owned West Bank and Omega Protein to take when they collect menhaden from their purse-seine nets.
Studying the numbers reveals much more, like the bycatch totals include 240,000 speckled trout, 80.592 million croaker, 24.75 million white trout, 11.7 million spot and 5.7 million white shrimp retained in the total catch.
Then, add in 22,000 redfish killed and another 8,354 redfish retained and the study doesn’t paint so rosy a picture, and we could go on with adding other species like Spanish mackerel, gafftopsail and hardhead catfish, flounder and sharks.
And, what does that 3.62 percent mean?
The study listed the menhaden folks reported 13,144 sets made in 2024, which is, according to previous reports, about 4,000 fewer than previous seasons’ averages.
Then, using federal fisheries reports and LGL data, the average annual take is 500,000 metric tons from Gulf waters, of which 93.5 percent came from Louisiana waters in 2024.
That 93.5 percent of 500,000 metric tons equals 467,500 metric tons from Louisiana (a metric ton is the equivalent of 2,204.62 pounds), which means the total catch weight from Louisiana waters is a staggering 1,030,659,850.
Using the 3.6 percent bycatch rate, the menhaden industry’s total bycatch weight in Louisiana totals 37,103,754.6 pounds — that’s millions!
What’s worse is what if the menhaden boats had made the 4,000 sets the data indicates the menhaden folks didn’t make in 2024?
What’s next?
The question lingers in this fight between one sector of the commercial fishing business and conservation/recreational fishing groups.
While there are some in Louisiana who will stand on the “right” for commercial fishing business to continue to operate in the same way for years on end, where does that 37 million-pound bycatch figure into this fight? Yes, fight, because Sagrera has this issue beyond discussion.
What does 37 million pounds of annual bycatch mean when understanding this menhaden fishery has done this for the past 10, 20, 30 and even 40 years.
And, where will this fight take us knowing the recent run-in a menhaden boat had with tarpon fishermen and the numbers of dead redfish washing up on a beach.
Guess we’ll know how much Sagrera has poked the bear Nov. 6.
It will be interesting.
