NEW ORLEANS, LA (February 19, 2020) – Citing an urgency to end the steady decline of spotted seatrout spawning recruitment in Louisiana since 2011, the Fly Fishers International (FFI) Gulf Coast Council today announced its support of an increase to a 14-inch minimum size limit. The proposal is one of several that Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries marine biologists have offered as a means of combating an existing deficit in seatrout spawning recruitment.
[The decision to support the measure came at Tuesday evening’s meeting of the board of directors. The measure passed with a unanimous vote.]
“The primary problem is a very low number of ages 2 and 3 female trout, the primary spawners.”, said Glen ‘Catch’ Cormier, Conservation Director for FFI-GCC. “A minimum size of 14 inches solves that problem by increasing the total female spawning biomass by 20 percent. In fact, among the ten states that manage for spotted seatrout, Louisiana is the only one with a minimum size limit less than 14 inches.”.
Click here to read the entire press release.
