While the menhaden industry is touting the findings with regard to redfish mortality from the LGL Ecological Research Associates menhaden bycatch study, conservation folks say the number of dead redfish go beyond the findings.
Theย Menhaden Fisheries Coalition issued a release identifying its fishery killed 30,142 redfish in the LGL study conducted on 518 of the menhaden operationsโ reported 13,144 sets in 2024. The report showed approximately 22,000 breeding-size redfish were among that number.
The menhaden folks said that number is โa tiny fraction of overall red drum losses from all causes,โ which include the recreational take of this species, which is Louisianโs only saltwater gamefish.
The conservationists' side is that the 22,000 redfish figure represents the size fish banned from the recreational take in a major change in ถถา๕h redfish regulations in 2024. The new regulation banned recreational anglers from keeping redfish measuring 27 or more inches long.
The report also identified 61 species in the bycatch study. Bycatch is a term applied to any nontargeted species. In this case any species other than menhaden.
The report found bycatch makes up 3.6% of the total catch, which was recorded as an average of about 500,000 metric tons per year from the Gulf, of which near 94% of that catch comes from ถถา๕h waters.
LGLโs study also showed the incidence of bycatch of coastal predator species decreased when nets were set in deeper water, depths from 16-20 feet according to the chart.
With that finding, there will be more questions than answers about the future of this commercial fishery. Will there be a move to the one-mile barrier off the ถถา๕h coast, a move sought before Gov. Jeff Landry ordered both the industry and conservation organizations to settle on a half-mile barrier?
Advocate reporter Mike Smith wrote the follow-up story Wednesday to the presentation made during Tuesdayโs Wildlife and Fisheries meeting.
A July 8 release from Wildlife and Fisheries contains information from the entire study on the agency’s website: , then find “Recent News” for the July 8 posting.
A big net
Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement teamed with State Police and the Coast Guard to work waterways across the state during the Fourth of July holiday. Patrols resulted in the arrest of 19 for DWI violations during Operation Dry Water.
Hunting seasons
With hunting season less than two months away for doves โ Sept. 6 statewide โ and the teal season opening Sept. 20, hunters can go to the Wildlife and Fisheries website for the 2025-2026 hunting regulations pamphlet.
All season dates, bag limits and regulations are posted in the pamphlet along with season dates and other rules for hunting wildlife management areas and on our stateโs federal lands.
To find the pamphlet, go to:
Printed copies will be available in August at all Wildlife and Fisheries offices and at most places where hunting and fishing licenses are sold.
Waterfowl
Wildlife and Fisheriesโ waterfowl study leader Jason Olszak presented the findings from the recent waterfowl hunters survey during Tuesdayโs commission meeting.
The study came after 11,636 responded to a 37-question survey conducted in advance of the commission setting waterfowl hunting zones and segments to present to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by the Aug. 31 deadline.
These zones and season segments will be effective through the 2029-2030 hunting seasons.
Olszak reported hunters liked the two waterfowl zones โ East and West โ with almost no consensus for either two or three segments in the 60-day season.
Other preferences included a mid-November opening day, splits opening on Saturdays, and hunting until Jan. 31, the last date allowed by the USFWS.
For specklebelly geese, the preference was for continuing a 74-day, three-per-day season.
An honor
Senior agent Dustin Barton received the annualย Theophile Bourgeois Memorial Award during Tuesday's commission meeting.
Barton was honored for his work in leading an investigation on a man posing as a fishing guide on Toledo Bend without a license nor insurance.
The ถถา๕h Charter Boat Association presents the award for the agent who promotes โprofessionalism within the ถถา๕h charter-for-hire industry."
Gags
The Gulf Council announced a Sept. 1-14 season on taking gag grouper from federal waters. Most Gulf states adopt the same season.
The reason for the short season stems from landings exceeding 2024โs allowed catch by 88,991 pounds. That number was subtracted from the 2025 allowed catch, which resulted in a โ2025 recreational annual catch limit of 310,009 pounds gutted weight and a 2025 recreationalย annual catch target of 230,009 pounds gutted weight,โ according to the councilโs release.
Snakes alive!
Most of us know about Shark Week on TV.
Now get ready for Snake Week (July 13-19). Wildlife and Fisheries and theย ถถา๕h Amphibian and Reptile Enthusiasts will host a seminar on snakes at the Heymann Recreational Center, 1500 S. Orange Street in Lafayette beginning at 6:30 p.m. Monday.
World Snake Day will be celebrated July 16, so to find out more about it go to this website:
Hikers beware
Learning more and more ถถา๕h folks like to get away from the heat and hike in the hills and mountains during the summer.
And that means more contact with ticks.
The Center for Disease Control already is reporting a record-breaking spring and summer for tick-related visits to emergency rooms โ and the CDC folks tell us July stacks up to be the worst month for these reports since 2017.
The CDC best advice includes:
- Wear long, light-colored pants tucked into socks or boots, and long-sleeved shirts to keeps ticks from reaching the skin. This also makes them easier to see ticks before they get to your skin;
- For folks living in tick country, you need to create what the CDC calls a โtick moatโ by using gravel or wood chips along property edges to discourage tick migration from wooded areas;
- Removing leaf litter, prime tick hiding spots;
- And, storing firewood on elevated surfaces to prevent tick-carrying rodents from using stacks of firewood as a shelter.
Ticks are notorious for transmitting diseases like Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Heartland virus and Bourbon virus โ yeah, we know some folks with bourbon virus but not from ticks โ and ticks can also leave victims with alpha-gal syndrome, which, according to the CDC โis a potentially life-threatening food allergy to red meat.โ