Louisiana has more area of inshore waters per licensed salt water angler than any other state in the lower 48. (~250 to 300 thousand anglers fishing ~4 million acres of water, works out to 10-15 acres per angler.)
Further, due to the high quality habitat of silt laid down by the Mississippi River over the eons and the nutrient loading of the Mississippi River (due to fertilizers from mid-West farmers washing down), Louisiana waters are about 4 times more productive than Gulf waters not directly impacted by the Mississippi.
The system is so productive and resilient that even Louisiana politicians and Texas conservation groups have not been able to screw up the fishing too badly yet, and Louisiana has escaped the consequences of mismanagement that greatly damaged fishing in places like Galveston Bay and Chesapeake Bay decades ago. However, the productivity and resilience that provided a 30-40 year buffer in ongoing productivity won't last forever if we allow the habitat to continue to be degraded.
It is a fact of wildlife management that inshore species are resilient and will quickly rebound to whatever population levels the habitat will support. Focus on lower limits and guarding the "stocks" is misguided and narrow minded because it ignores the reality that those stocks need to be fed from the habitat in which they live. It's like pretending that beef production means protecting the cattle from harvest while ignoring the necessity to protect the pasture to feed the beef. You can't grow beef with 10 cattle per acre.
|