Quote:
Originally Posted by meaux fishing
There was no oil in vermilion bay or cocodrie/dularge either. We're the numbers down in those areas?
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It was not only about the oil, but about the dispersants and whether the dispersants impacted the areas offshore where the crabs spend the larval and juvenile parts of their life cycle. Crabs are carried back into estuaries on the tides as they near adulthood so it would be inaccurate to suggest estuary-by-estuary population effects.
Further, the underharvest of predators due to short seasons, low limits, and closures in east and central Louisiana probably had a bigger effect than in SWLA. The exploding red snapper population is much further off the coast in SWLA and does not have near the overlap with the offshore life stages of crabs as the exploding red snapper population off central and east Louisiana.
Further, fishery closures in much of east and south Louisiana prevented harvest of important predators (drum and redfish) in 2010, and focused both sporting and commercial pressure (black drum trot lines) in SWLA. Fewer drum -> more crabs. Black drum have been on a steady downward trend in SWLA since 2010. Redfish in SWLA have held steady as redfish populations continue to increase in central and eastern Louisiana (a combination of the ongoing ban in federal waters, absence of commercial harvest, and recreational closure in most of the 2010 season after the spill in many areas.)
The bottom line is you can't have infinite predators (redfish and drum) without the prey population taking a hit (crabs). Want more crabs? Kill more of the things that eat them.