Calcasieu Lake Destruction
 

It looks like Nov. 1st oyster season is set to open. Below is a map of the area open to dredge. Take notice of how much of the south end of the lake is open.

I thought CCA and specifically the Lake Charles chapter was making a huge push to stop this?

Pahahahahahahahaha

Thank goodness they closed Joe's Cove!

Ouch! That looks horrible

Casey, you know damn well CCA has nothing to do with conservation.

Awesome...

Good Job WL&F

Anyone who spends any time in WC, in the winter, knows how hard these guys are going to hit he south end of the lake. Big time bummer.

Yeah they gonna rape it!

Curious, what is the difference between this year's harvest grounds and last year?

51,000 sacks on one reef
 

CALCASIEU PARISH, LA (KPLC) - The Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries Commission has set oyster season in Calcasieu Lake to begin a half-hour before sunrise on Nov. 1.
Still, those who depend on oyster fishing say they almost didn't get a season this year.
In Cameron Parish, LNG is king and so is oyster fishing, at least to those who have spent their lives here.
"I've already had people calling for oysters wanting to know when the season's going to open."
Yet, those who depend on oysters for their livelihood say they came dangerously close to no season this year, which buyer Kay Picou says might have caused her to close shop.
"If they had not opened this oyster season I feel like my business would have had to shut down," Picou said. "Without the oysters, I can't make a living just on shrimp."
Though shrimp and crabs are a big part of the seafood business, those like Leo Dyson say without oysters you can't make it.
"So, they work shrimping from April to November and then they start oystering and they have a year-round fishery where everyone makes a living," Dyson said.
Dyson fished for decades and is now a buyer. He says fishermen hired their own biologist this year.
"We went with their biologist and we went with the one we hired and both times we found oysters," Dyson said. "One reef had 51,000 sacks on it."
West Cameron Port Director Clair Marceaux says oysters are part of the economy and the culture.
"If you take away oystering, that's one more component of our culture that once it disappears I don't know how we'll get it back," she said. "Fisheries is a way for us to make a living and feed our families. The money that comes from oystering does things like pay mortgages and high insurance premiums and college tuition."
So, for now, there is an upcoming oyster season for Calcasieu Lake - one fishermen worry they may have to fight for year after year.
Still, a spokesman for Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries says they believe the resource is in danger of being depleted and issued the following statement.
?Our monitoring program indicates a long-term decline in the oyster population in Calcasieu Lake. We are very aware of the importance of this harvest to the community and seriously evaluated all our options prior to making our recommendation. The Commission considers both biological and social information in establishing harvest regulations. If oyster resources remain low, the Department will probably continue to recommend low or no harvest. The Commission will consider that information along with the input from the users of the resource when setting regulations. We all hope that the resource will recover so we can recommend more harvest from this area.?
For more on the oyster season from Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries, click HERE.
Copyright 2016 KPLC . All rights reserved.

Harvesting oysters isn't the problem. The problem is the method in which oyster fishermen are allowed to harvest. If they'd ban the use of dredges and enforced a tonging only policy, the reefs would not be completely destroyed. Tonging is also more difficult and many fishermen don't seem to want to put in more work to protect the habitat.

I remember in the late 90's when I first started fishing Big Lake. All there were was oyster fishermen with tongs. It was a sight to see. All those skiffs with a couple guys working all day and pilling up oysters in those boats.

Never had oyster problems till dredging

This is 110% on wildlife and fishies

And there ain't a reef in big lake with 51,000 sacks of oysters unless they were in turners

I will bet serious money there is not one south of that fire line

Another note , last time they let them rape the east bank it has never been the same

I have many family members who are oyster men If dredging was so bad and hurt the fisheries so bad why are there 10 times more guides now than there was back when it was tong only? Fisheries haven't changed a bit

And why is north end of the lake closed by health and hospitals? Should we not be eating fish from up there?

25,268 sacks of Oysters came out of West Cove last year.

You clearly do not fish. The change in the lake since dredging has been allowed is so drastic that it is like fishing a totally different body of water. It is sad that a natural resource has to be utterly destroyed before anyone pays attention.

Wholesale deforestation from harvesting virgin timber was once a thing too and was probably much more of an economic boon than oystering in its heyday. But management and processes have to change to allow for continued resources in the long run. Unfortunately it seems like many who make their living off of it don't want to adapt or find other means to ensure that.


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