Big Lake Oyster assessment

[Raymond]

For the past 3 seasons the LDWF has urged the Oyster fishermen to utilize the West Cove, but they don't listen becuase the West Cove Oysters are less desireable for the market. They are calling them Lizard Tongues. Long and skinny. Not many buyers want them.

URGED?????????????? Don't Listen???????????????????????

The price per sack and the lower manpower needed due to dredges, had a lot more boats fishing than the past years.

Bet it doubles that 190 this year with the east side being shut down in most areas.
Is the oyster task force looking at any other variables other than oysters?
They should handle it just like they do with the alligator farms, harvest the eggs and return a % of the baby gators back into the wild. Do they (fishermen) have to reseed the reefs they are taking from???

[swamp snorkler]

Originally Posted by Raymond

For the past 3 seasons the LDWF has urged the Oyster fishermen to utilize the West Cove, but they don't listen becuase the West Cove Oysters are less desireable for the market. They are calling them Lizard Tongues. Long and skinny. Not many buyers want them.

URGED?????????????? Don't Listen???????????????????????

The price per sack and the lower manpower needed due to dredges, had a lot more boats fishing than the past years.

Bet it doubles that 190 this year with the east side being shut down in most areas.
Is the oyster task force looking at any other variables other than oysters?
They should handle it just like they do with the alligator farms, harvest the eggs and return a % of the baby gators back into the wild. Do they (fishermen) have to reseed the reefs they are taking from???

On the east side Fisherman plant oysters all year long, they get seed oysters from one area and go dump them on a bed they own in order to harvest them in the winter.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by swamp snorkler

On the east side Fisherman plant oysters all year long, they get seed oysters from one area and go dump them on a bed they own in order to harvest them in the winter.

SS, I realize that and my question was meant to imply that our fishermen on the west side are only taking from the peoples resource and not putting in. We all have a vested interest in our natural resources be it fish,shrimp, crabs,ducks, deer, ect. Why can't the task force and fishermen see that raping the resource will cause it to implode. Instead of harvesting the "Golden Eggs", they are killing the "GOOSE". They have the history of the oyster reefs in Big Lake to see this and still they allow it to happen over and over again. Surely, the biologists can tell us how many sacks of oysters can be taken from the lake on a annual basis without hurting the resource. Set a quota for the lake or license and when it is reached shut it down. HELL, I am not a Mental Heavy Weight and can see where that would maintain the resource in perpatuity(sp).

[swamp snorkler]

Originally Posted by Raymond

SS, I realize that and my question was meant to imply that our fishermen on the west side are only taking from the peoples resource and not putting in. We all have a vested interest in our natural resources be it fish,shrimp, crabs,ducks, deer, ect. Why can't the task force and fishermen see that raping the resource will cause it to implode. Instead of harvesting the "Golden Eggs", they are killing the "GOOSE". They have the history of the oyster reefs in Big Lake to see this and still they allow it to happen over and over again. Surely, the biologists can tell us how many sacks of oysters can be taken from the lake on a annual basis without hurting the resource. Set a quota for the lake or license and when it is reached shut it down. HELL, I am not a Mental Heavy Weight and can see where that would maintain the resource in perpatuity(sp).

i agree, just about every other resource with the exception of shrimp and crabs have quotas, why oysters don't is beyond me.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by swamp snorkler

On the east side Fisherman plant oysters all year long, they get seed oysters from one area and go dump them on a bed they own in order to harvest them in the winter.

When I said East Side, I meant East Side of Big Lake. Not East Side of Louisiana. I should have made that clearer.

Raymond, the people in the LDWF right now do not remember, or don't want to remember when the oysters were wiped out before in Big Lake.
It took 10 years to get them back to where they could be harvested again.

It takes around 3 to 4 years from spat to harvesting size(greater than 3 inches). But if you wipe them all out, it takes the few left a lot longer to repopulate the lake.
I am surprized at how many oysters the West Cove still holds after all the dredging from last winter.
But that is a good thing. They are releasing a lot of larvae into the lake for more to grow.
And the shallow reefs are harder to get to in the winter with oyster boats.
That may help also. North winds and low tides make it harder to get closer to the banks.
Another good thing, they don't let them harvest in the West Fork area. Those banks are full of oyster reefs.

[meaux fishing]

Originally Posted by Ray

When I said East Side, I meant East Side of Big Lake. Not East Side of Louisiana. I should have made that clearer.

Raymond, the people in the LDWF right now do not remember, or don't want to remember when the oysters were wiped out before in Big Lake.
It took 10 years to get them back to where they could be harvested again.

It takes around 3 to 4 years from spat to harvesting size(greater than 3 inches). But if you wipe them all out, it takes the few left a lot longer to repopulate the lake.
I am surprized at how many oysters the West Cove still holds after all the dredging from last winter.
But that is a good thing. They are releasing a lot of larvae into the lake for more to grow.
And the shallow reefs are harder to get to in the winter with oyster boats.
That may help also. North winds and low tides make it harder to get closer to the banks.
Another good thing, they don't let them harvest in the West Fork area. Those banks are full of oyster reefs.

I know you find em pretty good in the spring...