We need to stay on top of this

[Ray]

Oyster buyer Bill Parker asked the Cameron Parish Jury to consider supporting the opening of the West Cove of Calcasieu Lake with a 15 sack limit, in the face of a proposed decrease from 15 to 10 sacks on the east side this fall. He said a 33% decrease in income would hurt the local oyster fishermen, and opening West Cove to more harvesting would cultivate the beds and make them more valuable next year. The proposed opening of the Louisiana side of the Sabine Lake would also help oyster fishermen. Parker said Cameron Parish oysters are some of the best on the market, and with the east side of the state closed down due to the oil spill, the pressure on southwest Louisiana will be greater this year. The matter will be referred to the Cameron Parish Oyster Task Force.

[adamsfence]

thats what we need is more oyster boats

[jchief]

Ray, who do we need to contact?

[PaulMyers]

Ray, who do we need to contact?

x2

[LaAngler]

all about the $$$$$

shame

i think sabine lake is closed this year again too

[Ray]

They are asking the parish to get with the LDWF Oyster Task Force to change the sack limits to wipe out the West Cove because basically they already wiped out the East side.
They want to up the West Cove sack limit and lower the East Side sack limit.
And they want to open the La. bank of the Sabine Lake.

[Ray]

The Conservationist's Corner: Big Lake Oyster Season - SaltyCajun.com

[Raymond]

How can there be any legeal sized oysters left in West Cove right now?
Those guys would pull right up to fishing boats and start their death draggs last spring. They don't give a $hit, which is typical Louisiana short sightedness. I figured this was going to happen with the east closures!:pissed:

How do they "wlf" keep up with the east/west limits? Might as well let them dredge all the oysters this year so they will not be back the following because there are none to be had.

Might need to add a Stainless Riot gun to my Wading Gear this Fall!!!!

[Ray]

They have to release anything under a certain size, in the same area they caught them at.
Changing from tonging to mechanical dredges is going to hurt the oyster reefs, in my opinion. I'd bet there were mayby 1/4 the oyster boats when there was tonging only.
In La., you can have one license per registered boat. That means one man can have 5 boats(I know one that does), that has an oyster license for each boat. He can catch 5 limits per day. When tonging, no one could fathom tonging enough oysters in one day to fill 5 limits.
Plus more people are oystering cause it is so much easier to dredge, winch them in, throw it back overboard and start dredging again while culling and sacking.
But on a bright side, once the oystering is dead cause there are no more oysters, or not enough to make good money, they will have to go back to tonging. It's happened before, it will happen again.

[Ray]

This is not going to help either:

The Conservationist's Corner: Oyster fishermen are helping the lake - SaltyCajun.com

[Ray]

Cameron Parish Police Jurors adopted a resolution asking the state to open
the Louisiana side of the Sabine Lake to oyster fishing, with a limit of 10 sacks, and
to open the West Cove of Calcasieu Lake with the same limit.
These openings and limits were recommended by the Cameron Parish Oyster Task
Force. The state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries willmake a final decision on
the sack limits Thursday.

[Gerald]

Cameron Parish Police Jurors adopted a resolution asking the state to open
the Louisiana side of the Sabine Lake to oyster fishing, with a limit of 10 sacks, and
to open the West Cove of Calcasieu Lake with the same limit.
These openings and limits were recommended by the Cameron Parish Oyster Task
Force. The state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries willmake a final decision on
the sack limits Thursday.

Is that 10 sacks per person per day?

Or per license?

[Ray]

Per license.
The only people who have a sack per person limit is recreational oyster fishermen.

[Raymond]

WTH??? Oyster Task Force? What biological evidence do they use to make their determination for harvest??? There has got to be some explanation for their decision. I can't believe oysters can grow fast enough to be harvested twice in one year on such a small body of water without undersized oysters being
kept.

[Ray]

Oysters take about 3 years to grow to legal size.
They can scrape the bottom all they want, but they cannot keep any undersized oysters.
They have to release the undersized oysters in the same area they caught them in. They cannot be moved to another area and released.
LDWF doesn't want the oyster fishermen to release them where they cannot grow.

[southern151]

Raymond, $$$$ is the scientific evidence they go by.

[Reel Bender]

I say let them open it up!!!!!!!!!!

It will keep your Oyster Boats at home so they don't invade us again!!!!!!!!!!:p

[Gerald]

Oysters take about 3 years to grow to legal size.
They can scrape the bottom all they want, but they cannot keep any undersized oysters.
They have to release the undersized oysters in the same area they caught them in. They cannot be moved to another area and released.
LDWF doesn't want the oyster fishermen to release them where they cannot grow.

Ray....In your opinon, are they doing this? Send me a PM....if you want to keep it off the board. Do they just dump them in one big pile or do they drift and slowly dump them?

Are the oysters still alive when they release them?

[Ray]

THey have to release them alive in the same place. It would not be to their advantage to let them die then release them.
The buyers will not by undersized oysters either. They don't want to lose their license.

The sack limit now is 20 sacks per day.

[mstulb]

There are reefs in west cove that still have no oyster growth, after the dredging last winter and spring. All boats from Texas also, got shut down in Sabine (wonder why) so they destroyed the reefs in west cove last spring.
60-90 boats dragging chain's and metal baskets across the natural reefs..

What kind of backward state do we live in where natural reefs and spawning grounds are alowed to be knowingly destroyed.. Biggest issue is that they are allowing this during the spawning season on big lake.

Also the oyster market is dominated by pasteruized oysters and there is honestly no need to even allow this destuctive dredging...





How can there be any legeal sized oysters left in West Cove right now?
Those guys would pull right up to fishing boats and start their death draggs last spring. They don't give a $hit, which is typical Louisiana short sightedness. I figured this was going to happen with the east closures!:pissed:

How do they "wlf" keep up with the east/west limits? Might as well let them dredge all the oysters this year so they will not be back the following because there are none to be had.

Might need to add a Stainless Riot gun to my Wading Gear this Fall!!!!

[yak'em-n-stack'em]

man yall would hate to live on this side of the state

[LaAngler]

I guess CCA is too busy planning banquets and tournaments rather than address this issue.

What kind of backward state do we live in where natural reefs and spawning grounds are alowed to be knowingly destroyed.. Biggest issue is that they are allowing this during the spawning season on big lake.

several of us tried contacting patrick banks last year, didn't do any good.

[Ray]

This side of the state has natural reefs.
East side is publicly seeded oyster leases.
If they run low on that side, the state will seed more.
Here, if the oysters run low, they will have to rely on reseeding themselves.
There is one culch for seed oysters in Big Lake, but I don't see any oysters on it.
I don't know why they raised the limits this year.

I saw 3 boats heading towards Hackberry yesterday evening. They were loaded down, almost sinking.
If you are dredging, you should catch your sacks by noon. I bet these guys are going out for second boat or third boat limits. You can get as many licenses per boat as you can afford. So the more boats you have, the more licenses you can have.

The oyster fishermen will start screaming when they run out of oysters. Then the LDWF will go back to hand tonging like they did last time the oysters ran out.

[Raymond]

Hit east bank of West Cove Friday to make a wade and counted 9 dredges which included this one that motored 300 yds ahead of me for a quick drag.