Quote:
Originally Posted by TarponTom
What many people don't realize is the cleanup crews are picking up between 700 to 900 pounds of oil every single day on Fourchon Beach, & Elmers Island alone. Every the tide goes out oil balls are all over the beaches again. I have also seen a significant reduction in the menhaden population in the Lake P, Borgne, and Venice areas. The population is easily 1/2 of what it was in 2005 and I'm positive this is due to the oil spill and corexit.
A reduced creel limit of trout to 5 per person with strict minimum and maximum size limits will occur within the next 48 months. The trout & menhaden aren't the only fish to have taken a hit either--the flounder fishery is in real trouble.
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TT brings up the heart of the issue. The East side, for what ever reason, is suffering lower catch rates. The rest of us, west side/central coast will be effected in that what ever happens there will be inflicted on the rest of the coast. This will make it far easier to enforce creel limits for LWF. East dictates to the rest of us because of its political muscle. Granted there are real issues facing the east side but perhaps we should isolate this area and fully concentrate efforts toward improving fish stocks/habitat. Areas west of Cocodrie were not adversely effected by BP spill. With that the central and west side should be monitored to compare population densities along with fishing success rates.
Even with high river stages this past spring, the central areas had good to great fishing...from my experiences. Going half cocked to cut down on creel limits in un-effected areas is poor management, but easy to implement, imo.