Shrimp Season to Close in Additional Portions of Louisiana Zone 2
OutdoorHub 07.08.11
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) has announced the spring inshore shrimp season in additional portions of Shrimp Management Zone 2 will close at 6 a.m. Monday, July 11.
This shrimp season closure includes state inside waters from the eastern shore of the Atchafalaya River Ship Channel at Eugene Island, as delineated by the Channel red buoy line,westward to the western shore of Vermilion Bay and Southwest Pass at Marsh Island. The closure also includes state inside waters from the eastern shore of South Pass of the Mississippi River westward to the western shore of Bayou Lafourche.
The following area located within Barataria Bay will remain open:
Those inside waters south of 29 degrees 26 minutes 00 seconds north latitude from 89 degrees 50 minutes 30 seconds west longitude westward to the western shore of the Barataria Waterway. The number, distribution and percentage of small juvenile white shrimp taken in biological samples within Zone 2 have rapidly increased in recent weeks and these waters are being closed to protect these developing shrimp.
Shrimp Management Zones 1 and 3, along with a portion of Barataria Bay and portions of lower Timbalier Bay, Terrebonne Bay and Lake Pelto, and all state outside waters seaward of the Inside/Outside shrimp line remain open to shrimp harvesting until further notice, with the exception of those areas closed to recreational and commercial fishing due to the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig accident.
Preliminary Louisiana landings statistics indicate that approximately 10.6 million pounds of shrimp (all species combined/heads-off weight) were harvested in May.
The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is charged with managing and protecting Louisiana’s abundant natural resources. For more information, visit us at www.wlf.louisiana.gov, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ldwffb or follow us on Twitter @LDWF.
For more information contact Martin Bourgeois at (225) 765-2401 or mbourgeois@wlf.la.gov. For press inquiries contact Laura Wooderson at (225) 610-2363 or lwooderson@wlf.la.gov.
