Expanding lands under the stateโs Chronic Wasting Disease control areas plan and considering amendments to the 2026-2027 hunting seasons and regulations top the agenda for Thursdayโs Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting.
The move to ratify an emergency declaration on new control areas came after a CWD- infested deer was found, for the first time, in Concordia Parish. The commissionโs move is to make permanent the expansion of CWD controls into limited lands surrounding Concordia Parish, the approval of which will bring new food-source feeding as far south as the northern reaches of Pointe Coupee Parish.
Other agenda items include:
- Considering amendments to the Scenic Rivers Program and withdrawing theย Wildlife Rehabilitation Program notice from Legislative Oversight, the latter issue coming after rehabilitation educational and certification sessions were scheduled;
- And, to learn of recent findings on the sac-a-lait and bass populations in the Saline-Larto Complex.
Noticeably absent from the agenda is a discussion on the proposed removal of the half-mile barrier on the commercial take of menhaden.
Public comment will be taken near the meetingโs end.
The meeting, which will be available via Zoom, is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. at state Wildlife and Fisheries headquarters on Quail Drive in Baton Rouge.
Removing boats
Terrebonne Parish is using funding from the BoatUS Foundation to removeย abandoned and derelict vessels from its waterways.
Itโs part of a nationwide program to reduce navigational hazards and to control pollution sources.
The initial estimate from the parishโs government is to target 170 abandoned boats. According to the parish and BoatUS, this project was โselected by a panel of independent salvage experts, state boating advocates, nonprofit research organizations and government planning agency staff under a four-year (BoatUS) program,โ through a federal Marine Debris plan.
Council moves
It would take an entire page to go through all discussions from last weekโs Gulf Council meeting in New Orleans.
The first item is the council will continue to advertise for members of Red Drum and Coastal Migratory Pelagic advisory panels.
After that, talks focused on a variety of grouper plans, regional management of greater amberjack, recreational and for-hire red snapper and lane snapper.
Red grouper: Final action came on a three-year, phase-in to increase red grouper catch limits with 68.2% of the catch going to commercial fishing interests and allocating 31.8% of the allowance for the recreational sector.
Shallow-water groupers complex: The move is to eliminate the Feb. 1-March 31 recreational shallow-water grouper closure beyond 20-fathoms. Federal fishery managers need to approve this move.
The plan to split this complex (scamp and yellowmouth, yellowfin and black groupers) into two complexes was delayed โbased on uncertainty associated with private recreational landings estimates generated by the federal recreational data collection program.โ
Deep-water groupers: Discussion centered around a possible rule requiring a mandatory reporting system for the recreational deep-water grouper (deep-drop) fishery.
Amberjack: The decision reached allows for development of a draft document to include results of the Greater Amberjack Count, a program similar to the Great Red Snapper Count which was conducted by independent marine fisheries scientists.
Red snapper: The council agrees to proceed with a plan that would allow federal fishery managers to โmodify federal for-hire fishing regulations,โ for creel and size limits and annual season dates.
And, for private recreational fishermen, the chance to examine the possibility of management flexibility by โallowing uncaught quota to be carried over to the following year within a state and to allow transfer of uncaught quota between states within a fishing year.โ
Lane snapper: After reviewing stock-assessment data, itโs possible that the annual allotment will be increased by nearly 200,000 pounds.