Pogey Boat Buffer Zone Extended to Half Mile Off Louisiana Coast
Keith Lusher 02.21.24
On Thursday, Feb. 15, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission unanimously passed the emergency regulations that created buffers for the 2024 season. The decision came as a compromise was reached by conservation groups and commercial menhaden (pogey) fisheries operators. The new regulations now require these pogey boats, which kill hundreds of redfish as a result of bycatch, to use their nets a half mile off of the Louisiana coast. The previous buffer zone was a quarter mile. Also included in the new regulations is a broader 1-mile buffer zone off Holly Beach. It also contains more stringent penalties and reporting requirements for future fish spills.
Pogey’s are a critical food source for inshore and offshore fish including speckled trout and redfish which are highly prized among saltwater anglers in Louisiana. In the past, Menhaden boats have been allowed to fish as close as 500 yards from Louisiana’s shorelines, and have been blamed for killing hundreds of redfish in recent years through bycatch. An estimated 1 billion pounds of pogies are taken by the industrial Gulf of Mexico pogey fishery each year with the majority of the catch coming from Louisiana.
While the decision is a step in the right direction, recreational anglers and conservation groups were hoping to score a 1-mile restriction. This would fall in line with other states like Alabama and Mississippi that restrict pogey boats from coming within a mile of the coastline. The restrictions would save thousands of redfish that inhabit the Louisiana Shoreline.
David Cresson with CCA of Louisiana was hoping to see a 1-mile buffer zone but said the half-mile zone is a step in the right direction. “The two sides were asked by the Commission, the Governor and the Legislature to find a compromise. In any compromise, there is give and take. Our side wanted the one-mile buffer. The compromise was 1/2 mile. It is what it is,” he said.
Hopefully, with so many eyeballs set on the Menhaden Industry in Louisiana, Cresson said we should be able to monitor the boats properly to see if the half-mile buffer. “Only time will tell if it helps. If incidents of fish spills, net tears, and dead redfish on beaches are reduced, then we can say it was a positive move,” Cresson said. “If the incidents persist, then we will know we need more. There is also a bycatch study being done in 2024, and that should reveal even more about where these boats should be allowed.”
The NOI will now go through a 30-day oversight period, where the joint Legislative Oversight Committees may choose to review it and make alternative recommendations. If they take no action, the NOI will be formalized as a final rule ahead of the 2024 Menhaden fishing season.
