Oyster rules for Big Lake

[Ray]

The commission shall fix the open season for commercial taking of oysters from Calcasieu Lake and Sabine Lake, which for Calcasieu Lake shall begin on any date between Oct. 15 and Nov. 1 and shall end on April 30 or on a date set by commission.
Not more than 25 sacks per boat per day may be taken from Sabine Lake. Harvest limits in Calcasieu Lake shall be set by the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission not to exceed 25 sacks of oysters per day per licensed vessel. This is the problem, in my opinion.
The sack limit for Calcasieu Lake is set at 15 sacks per day as provided for in R.S. 56:435.1.1. However, these conservation actions shall not supercede public health closures.
Harvest from private leases for commercial purposes is unlimited.
Recreational oyster fishermen may harvest oysters:
1. in leased areas only with the written permission of the lease holder;
2. in personally leased areas;
3. in areas open to the public for the harvesting of oysters, but shall be limited to two sacks per person (R.S. 56:424c) per day for personal consumption.
The use of dredges in Calcasieu and Sabine Lake is limited to a single hand dredge or a single scraper with mechanical assist that has a tooth or flat bar of no more that 36 inches in length.
Any oysters taken from the public natural reefs or the oyster seed grounds or reservations, except those in Calcasieu Lake or Sabine Lake, shall be placed only on a vessel which has an Oyster Seed Ground Vessel permit issued. Such permit shall be issued in the name of the vessel owner and shall identify the vessel permitted by including the state registration number or the United States Coast Guard documentation number.
Each person in charge of an oyster cargo vessel shall purchase an Oyster Cargo Vessel permit. The permit shall be issued at a cost of $250 per year for residents and $1105 per year for non-residents. This will pay for itself in one(1) day of dredging.
Culling oysters, which is the act of discarding undersized oysters or dead shell, shall be performed only on the open designated public grounds or on private leases on which the fisherman is authorized to take oysters. At no time will the act of culling oysters be permitted in areas closed to harvesting oysters.
The taking of oysters one-half hour after sunset until one-half hour before sunrise is prohibited.
Oysters taken from the reefs of this state either for sale or consumption shall be landed in Louisiana, except persons in possession of an out-of-state oyster landings permit may land oysters taken from private leases only in any state.
Sacks or any other types of containers used to hold oysters harvested in Louisiana and placed in commerce must be tagged with a tag issued by LDWF.

The commission authorized Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary to take emergency action to close areas if oyster mortalities are occurring or to delay the season or close areas where significant spat catch has occurred with good probability of survival, or where there are found excessive amounts of non-living reef material in seed oyster loads, or if oyster resources and/or reefs are being adversely impacted or if enforcement problems are encountered.