Latest Pogey Boat Dump Draws Ire of Recreational Fishermen in Louisiana
Keith Lusher 09.25.23
As the debate rages on whether or not to reduce recreational anglers’ daily bag limit and size limit on redfish, Louisiana anglers are starting to ask, “Why us? Why not them?” The “them” they are referring to is the Menhaden fishing companies that harvest millions of pounds of menhaden per year. The latest event that has enraged recreational fishermen and conservation groups like the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) happened within a span of four days. Allegedly two menhaden fishing companies dumped what is estimated to be 850,000 fish along the shoreline of Cameron Parish in Southwest Louisiana. The rotting floating islands of fish washed up near Holly Beach and after examination showed that among the menhaden were hundreds of redfish which LDWF has labeled as “Overfished” and is looking to enact restrictions on recreational fishermen.
These “pogey boats” as they’re referred to in Southeast Louisiana, are killing thousands of redfish a year, as a result of Louisiana’s relaxed restrictions on how close to the coastline the vessels can traverse. The nets that the menhaden boats use stretch anywhere from 1,400 to 1,600 feet and catch everything and anything in their path including redfish and speckled trout. The sight of dead fish floating along the coast from these pogey boats is an all-too-familiar sight for recreational fishermen who fish along the Louisiana Coastline
These “pogey boats” as they’re referred to in Southeast Louisiana, are killing thousands of redfish a year, as a result of Louisiana’s relaxed restrictions on how close to the coastline the vessels can traverse. The nets that the menhaden boats use stretch anywhere from 1,400 to 1,600 feet and catch everything and anything in their path including redfish and speckled trout. The sight of dead fish floating along the coast from these pogey boats is an all-too-familiar sight for recreational fishermen who fish along the Louisiana Coastline
The two companies under scrutiny are Omega Protein and Daybrook Fisheries, two foreign-owned companies that operate out of Plaquemines Parish in Southeast Louisiana.
In 2020, a bill was voted down that would have enacted a one-mile menhaden fishing “exclusion zone” along the entire Louisiana coastline. This buffer would have mimicked the restrictions that Mississippi and Texas have in place.
Menhaden industry backers say menhaden fishing creates jobs in what are economically disadvantaged coastal communities. While biologists with Wildlife and Fisheries said that the bycatch of fish other than menhaden is relatively low and account for less than 2% of annual speckled trout and redfish landings in Louisiana waters. But according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the total bycatch may be much higher. NOAA said that the industry’s annual Gulf-wide bycatch of all species could be as high as 60 million pounds.
In 2020, a bill was voted down that would have enacted a one-mile menhaden fishing “exclusion zone” along the entire Louisiana coastline. This buffer would have mimicked the restrictions that Mississippi and Texas have in place.
Menhaden industry backers say menhaden fishing creates jobs in what are economically disadvantaged coastal communities. While biologists with Wildlife and Fisheries said that the bycatch of fish other than menhaden is relatively low and account for less than 2% of annual speckled trout and redfish landings in Louisiana waters. But according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the total bycatch may be much higher. NOAA said that the industry’s annual Gulf-wide bycatch of all species could be as high as 60 million pounds.
A witness to the recent flotilla of dead fish posted on social media that he counted 338 dead redfish between Rutherford Beach and the west washout of Broussard Beach in Cameron Parish. David Cresson, CEO of the Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana has been a vocal critic of the pogey boats along the Louisiana shoreline and said, “338 dead redfish! Pogie boats from Omega and Daybrook caused this, yet we recreational anglers are the only ones having our regulations changed. The industry will just keep on crushing redfish on our beaches. They set their nets more than 10,000 times a year on our shorelines. How many redfish are they really killing? We need a one-mile buffer to stop these boats from fishing on top of our redfish spawning areas.”
Louisiana recreational fishermen seem to be a consistent target of tightening regulations for Wildlife and Fisheries. In 2022, the Department announced the first ever in state history, closed season on southern flounder. According to LDWF the season closure was necessary to recover the stock of southern flounder. Once again they blamed recreational fishermen who supposedly had overfished the flounder based on results from their stock assessment. The season closure stretched from Oct. 15 to Nov. 30 and is scheduled to remain in place until 2028.
In February, the Louisiana Senate rejected a proposed regulation by the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission (WLF) that would have dropped the daily bag limit for speckled trout from 25 to 15 and increased the size limit from 12 inches to 13.5 inches. After failing to reduce the trout limit, the WLF turned its sights to reducing the redfish limits. In July, the Commission adopted a Notice of Intent (NOI) to change the redfish size limit from 16 inches to 18 inches. The daily take and possession limit would have been changed from five to three fish per day.
Louisiana recreational fishermen seem to be a consistent target of tightening regulations for Wildlife and Fisheries. In 2022, the Department announced the first ever in state history, closed season on southern flounder. According to LDWF the season closure was necessary to recover the stock of southern flounder. Once again they blamed recreational fishermen who supposedly had overfished the flounder based on results from their stock assessment. The season closure stretched from Oct. 15 to Nov. 30 and is scheduled to remain in place until 2028.
In February, the Louisiana Senate rejected a proposed regulation by the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission (WLF) that would have dropped the daily bag limit for speckled trout from 25 to 15 and increased the size limit from 12 inches to 13.5 inches. After failing to reduce the trout limit, the WLF turned its sights to reducing the redfish limits. In July, the Commission adopted a Notice of Intent (NOI) to change the redfish size limit from 16 inches to 18 inches. The daily take and possession limit would have been changed from five to three fish per day.
For most recreational fishermen, there’s no mystery as to why the blame always falls on the Sportsmen of Louisiana; we simply have no lobbyist or anyone who has the clout or money to swing decisions in our favor. Jim Bates of Lacombe, La is one of many recreational anglers who is tired of the commercial industry going untouched. “Why is Louisiana the only state to still allow this kind of thing to take place? When I spoke with Wildlife and Fisheries a few months ago just after they put out their biased survey they said the old data said that the pogey boats don’t have much bycatch. That’s crazy to me! Every time their nets split open thousands of bycatch fish are washed ashore. Follow the money. Certain individuals are lining their pockets with money while our fish resources are declining,” Bates said.
As the battle ensues lawmakers have an uphill battle ahead of them as the menhaden industry in Louisiana accounts for a total of 611.9 million pounds of fish harvested each year. That’s more than the total pounds of shrimp, oysters, blue crab, and crawfish combined.
