Conservation and environmental groups will finally get the results of the first independent study on bycatch involving the commercial menhaden fishery industry off the ¶¶Ňőh coast.
The report is a major agenda item during Tuesday’s 9:30 a.m. ¶¶Ňőh Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting set for state Wildlife and Fisheries headquarters on Quail Drive in Baton Rouge.
The study is part of a settlement forced by Gov. Jeff Landry in 2024. Groups opposed to menhaden fishery operations sought a one-mile "buffer" off the coast. The settlement with the two major foreign-owned fishery companies set a half-mile buffer zone coastwide with at least one area, Grand Isle, maintaining a three-mile ban on the take of menhaden from its beach.
According to the Wildlife and Fisheries release, LGL Ecological Research Associates representatives will present the study, which some conservation organization say will show the bycatch contains thousands of redfish, Louisian’s only saltwater gamefish.
Bycatch is the term applied to any species not targeted by the intent of the commercial fishery. Other “bycatch” species likely will be speckled trout and Spanish mackerel.
Other agenda items include:
- Hearing a presentation on the agency’s 2025 Waterfowl Hunter Survey to outline specifics of hunters’ preferences in the upcoming decision on how ¶¶Ňőh will establish waterfowl hunting zones and hunting days/splits for the next five waterfowl hunting seasons;
- Considering resolutions to establish the new Bogue Chitto and the Flatwoods Savanna wildlife management areas;
- Receiving reports from Delta Waterfowl and Ducks Unlimited about their work using funds from ¶¶Ňőh for this year’s waterfowl breeding grounds work;
- Considering notices for changes in the state’s Scenic Rivers Program; in the control of outlaw quadrupeds; in rules and regulations in the Nuisance Wildlife Control Program; and, changes to rules governing the Wildlife Rehabilitation Program.
The meeting will be available on Zoom via webinar.
Turkey survey
Wildlife and Fisheries’ turkey study manager Cody Cedotal invites turkey hunters to a website survey as a public component in the wild turkey population survey. An email survey was sent out earlier, and Cedotal said the next step is to gather responses from turkey hunters.
“This web-based tracking component will allow us to greatly expand our survey. Now anyone can assist us in our effort to keep track of ¶¶Ňőh turkey populations,’’ Cedotal said.
To access the survey, go to the agency’s website: , then click the “LA Turkey Survey Data Entry” for instructions and to identify each wild turkey observation.
Big win
As many as 10 major hunting, fishing and conservation organizations celebrated a victory last week when Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, removed a section of the reconciliation bill package that would have allowed the sale of public lands.
The organizations spirited a letter-writing, calling and email campaign to Lee’s office along with other members of the U.S. Senate indicating public lands are for public use and are not for sale.
Groups campaigning to remove this section from legislation included the National Deer Association, the American Sportfishing Association, MeatEater, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, The Sportsmen’s Alliance, the National Wildlife Federation, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Trout Unlimited, Fresh Tracks and the Wildlife Management Institute.
High school bass
Louisian high school bass anglers, led by the sixth-place team of Carsen Adcock and Colton Arnold representing Haughton High School, had 10 teams place among the top 100 in the 223-team Abu Garcia high school fishing national championships held on Grand Lake near Grove, Oklahoma, in last June.
The Haughton team landed nine bass weighing 35 pounds, 1 ounce. A team from Georgia won with a 44-1 two-day total.
Other south ¶¶Ňőh teams in the top 100 included Carter and Jackson Lanclos, SW ¶¶Ňőh Legacy (15th, 22-12); Orin and Sydnee Byrd, Sulphur High (51st, 19-1); Colton Caskey and Ryan Procell, Riverdale Bassmasters (56th, 18-12); and, Eli Campbell and Jake Glass, Lakeside Warriors (77th, 16-15).
