Is there any left????
 

Release Date: 10/27/2015
(Oct. 27, 2015) - The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries would like to remind commercial oyster harvesters that the West Cove portion of the Calcasieu Lake Public Oyster Area will open for harvest on Sunday, November 1 at one half-hour before sunrise.

The sack limit of oysters is seven per day per person, per licensed vessel for the 2015-16 season.

Those participating in commercial oyster harvest in this area are also reminded that a 25-acre area in West Cove where oyster cultch material was deposited in June of this year will be closed to harvest. The coordinates of the four corners of this closed area are as follows:

A. 29 degrees 52 minutes 39.66 seconds N
93 degrees 23 minutes 42.14 seconds W
B. 29 degrees 52 minutes 28.94 seconds N
93 degrees 23 minutes 42.20 seconds W
C. 29 degrees 52 minutes 39.60 seconds N
93 degrees 23 minutes 31.92 seconds W
D. 29 degrees 52 minutes 29.01 seconds N
93 degrees 23 minutes 31.92 seconds W
Maps available here: http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/fishing/commerical-oyster-seasons
The east side of Calcasieu Lake remains closed to oyster harvest during the 2015-16 oyster season.

For further information about the Calcasieu Lake oyster harvest season, contact George Melancon, Biologist Manager, at (337) 491-2575.

Oyster numbers in big lake (according to the 2015 LDWF stock assessments) were down to about 38% of what they were in 2014 and 2013.

Wow that's crazy. They should put and end to dredging based on that data.

The LDWF stock assessments for Calcasieu from 2003 to 2015 are shown in the attached figure.

The oil spill is significant, not because oil reached Big Lake, but because all the closures in other LA waters focussed harvest pressure on Big Lake which provided most of the oysters harvested in LA in 2010.

Actually, what is also a big factor on that graph that is not represented is how saline even Big Lake got during those years from 2010 through 2015.. It allowed the oysters higher salinity predators to come into those areas where the oyster habitat is and just decimated it. That is the real reason for the decline. Last winter that ended with the return of large fresh flows. Granted the current fresh flows are a little too much and will kill even more oyster / reduce the spawn significantly as well. We count a lot on oysters to provide great habitat for speckled trout and redfish. It'll come back over time but it's going to take a bit.

tobin@troutsupport.com

You can not sustain a healthy oyster habitat with 200 boats raping the same area over and over and over every year !!

Never will happen !

The WLF are 100% responsible for this raping of our oyster beds with out any remorse


It's about as political as the 15 trout limit was !! Politics win over conservation

2015
 

How has fishing been for 2015 on Lake Calcasieu? Does the fishing show any negative effect due to the lack of healthy and thriving oyster habitat ?

Big time In Weat Cove area