FFI Gulf Coast Council

At their July meeting, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission were presented the results of a comprehensive study on the bycatch of the commercial Menhaden (pogey) fishery.

The study was conducted by LGL Ecological Research Associates, and was directed by the Louisiana Legislature after growing concern that the industry might be signficantly  impacting spawning-size red drum. Only last year, the recreational limit on redfish was modified to reduce the harvest numbers, after a stock assessment showed declines in the spawning biomass.

LGL looked at the three steps of bycatch processing on pogie boats.

• Rollover – fish that remain in the net and are released over the net, or which are restricted by an excluder device at the front of the pipe hose.
• Chute – fish that go through the pipe, but are caught by an excluder grate that sends them down a release chute.
• Retained – fish are not excluded or removed. They get processed along with menhaden.

Much of the presentation dealt with the various measures that LGL took to insure that geospatial, time of year, and other sampling factors were thorough and complied with models. Other measures included placing bycatch from rollover and chute fish into holding tanks to determine their viability and release status. As a testament to LGL’s efforts, all parties – commercial and recreational – agree the study was very well done.

In a nutshell, rollover bycatch had very high survivability, with mortality rates very high for chute bycatch, and obviously, 100 percent for retained bycatch.

The sampling was expanded to the entire number of sets for year 2024 to obtain the total estimated bycatch. Of species to interest of anglers, Rollover bycatch was 26,752 redfish, 18,680 black drum. Chute bycatch for red drum was 17,841 and 6,957 for black drum. Retained bycatch was 8,354 red drum, and to everyone’s surprise, 240,368 spotted seatrout. There were also 80 million croaker and 24 million sand trout retained. As mentioned, any fish retained were processed as product.

Much has been made about 25,000 redfish killed by menhaden fishing (chute + retained) over a year. LDWF pointed out that this represents “only” 9.9 percent of the total harvest (recreational + commercial bycatch). For many conservationists, who had to settle for regulations that will require 26 years for spawning numbers to reach the 30 percent conservation standard, “only 9.9 percent” is no relief whatsoever.

The one bit of good news is that, starting for 2025, new excluder devices were used that greatly reduce the number of chute bycatch. And to a lesser extent, moving the harvest a quarter-mile further should see – according to the LGL studies – a slightly lower number of redfish taken in the nets.

Another concern to conservationists is the number of speckled trout that are killed. Of the quarter million trout killed as bycatch, nearly all are spawning-size individuals. Croaker and sand trout – also game species, but less popular – are way too high as well. It may be impossible to exclude these species with current technology.

Then there’s the issue of menhaden itself – “the most important fish in the sea”. Can we continue to harvest such incredible amounts of this food source utilized by so many predator species? We no longer see the “football” reds and specks that were so very common along our beaches in summer and fall. Skinny fish tell the story!

On July 28th, Dr. Scott Raborn and Dr. Lewis Naisbett-Jones of LGL gave an abbreviated presentation on their bycatch study to the Kisatchie Fly Fishers club. As custom, KFF meetings are filmed and available on their YouTube channel. To watch the presentation, go to:

https://youtu.be/bXbFmkdls4I?t=904

Presentation starts at the 15:04 mark.

Last week, Alabama Department of Consrvation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) Commissioner Chris Blankenship signed off on several regulations proposed by the Marine Resources Division and approved by the ADCNR Commission at their last meeting.

The species of greatest concern to fly anglers were redfish, sheepshead, and snook. All three will benefit from conservation-directed changes in creel and bag limits. These changes were proposed by MRD with support from several conservation groups including the FFI Gulf Coast Council.

Redfish. Anglers will no longer be allowed to possess red drum over the slot limit of 16-26 inches total length. The bag limit will remain three (3) per person. In excluding mature fish from harvest, Alabama joins several states, including Louisiana and Florida, that protect the vital spawning population.

Sheepshead. The recreational bag limit has been reduced from 10 fish to eight (8) fish. This in response to increased popularity and increased fishing pressure since previous regulations were set. (To be exact, the number of saltwater anglers went from 140,000 in 2019 to 214,000 in 2023).

Common snook. This species has been historically very rare in Alabama waters, but has seen a dramatic rise in numbers in recent years. There were no regulations until now. The new limit is one (1) fish per day with a minimum size limit of 28 inches.

MRD Director Scott Bannon, one of our presenters at the Gulf Coast Classic in May, stated, “These changes were made to balance the need to conserve our saltwater resources with our commitment to provide anglers with abundant access to fishing opportunities in Alabama’s coastal waters.”.

FFI-GCC Conservation Director Glen “Catch” Cormier stated that this was a major win for conservation. “Once again, we’re grateful to our members, the fly fishing community in general, and our conservation partners in Alabama for their emails and phone calls to commission members.  Their response was fantastic!”.