East Side your Limit drop is comming

[MathGeek]

I appreciate everyone's input and perspectives. There is a lot of value in this conversation.

Originally Posted by Duck Butter

... the squeaky wheel gets the grease and in Louisiana its politics, not science based 'greasing'.

I am optimistic that Louisiana is growing in positive directions under Governor Jindal. It may take time, but I think the more and higher quality science we can have in the conversation, the better the odds for a favorable outcome.

Originally Posted by Duck Butter

One more thing is the oil spill and the Corexit, there are studies out there that are showing impacts of this stuff. I listened to an entymologist talk about not being able to find any insects around the areas where oil was present. It sounds minor, but this is the basis of the food chain. You know that if you ever walk in the marsh, there is no shortage of insects.

When we were weighing and measuring all the fish in our oil spill study, we took note of the lack of insects, which we attributed to the lack of local rainfall. It's good to know that there is an alternate explanation with some science behind it.

Originally Posted by Dink

Blow the mississippi river levee south of Baton Rouge. Let the river do what it wants......

Now this is out of the box thinking.

Originally Posted by ckinchen

They already have their own experts on the "payroll", do they need more? ...

More state or government jobs is the last thing Louisiana needs.

I agree completely. The State of Louisiana has too many employees already, and when your paycheck is coming from the State, it is much harder giving truly independent scientific input. Wildlife management is more likely to be improved with a combination of independent science as well as improved state sponsored science.

As we exercise our political clout, I think we would better serve future generations not by saying "raise the limits" or "lower the limits" but rather by saying "show me the science."

Practice a bit if jumping up and down like Cuba Gooding in Jerry McGuire:

Show me the science!

Show me the science!

Show me the science!

["W"]

Originally Posted by MathGeek

Practice a bit if jumping up and down like Cuba Gooding in Jerry McGuire:

Show me the science!

Show me the science!

Show me the science!

[Duck Butter]

[QUOTE=MathGeek;555413]


When we were weighing and measuring all the fish in our oil spill study, we took note of the lack of insects, which we attributed to the lack of local rainfall. It's good to know that there is an alternate explanation with some science behind it.

Here is the professor
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/commun...rs/LHooper.htm

She was also looking at ants on the beach at Grand Isle and she was having problems finding ants after the spill and after the cleanup, suggesting there was something going on that we couldn't see. This was last August when she spoke so she probably has much more info now.

[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.

[Reefman]

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.

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.

[MathGeek]

Originally Posted by Reefman

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.

I think the long term interests of the fishery are best served by pressing LDWF to document the science and explain their data and reasoning behind any limit changes. A long term limit change would be a bad response to a short term circumstance. Even if one has full confidence in the current LDWF biologists, I still think the public good is best served by close examination of the science to verify that the decisions are well considered and data driven. After all, the next group of biologists may not be as trustworthy as the current group. What if the NOAA/Vision 2020 types end up employed as future LDWF biologists? It would be better to have a pattern established of being open with the data and scientific reasoning. There needs to be accountability both to the general public and to independent scientific analysis of the data and decision making process.

[Reefman]

Originally Posted by MathGeek

I think the long term interests of the fishery are best served by pressing LDWF to document the science and explain their data and reasoning behind any limit changes. A long term limit change would be a bad response to a short term circumstance. Even if one has full confidence in the current LDWF biologists, I still think the public good is best served by close examination of the science to verify that the decisions are well considered and data driven. After all, the next group of biologists may not be as trustworthy as the current group. What if the NOAA/Vision 2020 types end up employed as future LDWF biologists? It would be better to have a pattern established of being open with the data and scientific reasoning. There needs to be accountability both to the general public and to independent scientific analysis of the data and decision making process.

Here's where I become skeptical MathGeek. There are tons of scientific studies that have been conducted by independent as well as LWF biologists concerning the BP spill. Most, if not all studies are not public! Most all have a gag order because of litigations on-going with BP. We, as citizens, are again in the dark as to exactly what did all that oil and dispersant's do to our fish stocks and environment in the affected areas.

[Duck Butter]

Originally Posted by Reefman

Here's where I become skeptical MathGeek. There are tons of scientific studies that have been conducted by independent as well as LWF biologists concerning the BP spill. Most, if not all studies are not public! Most all have a gag order because of litigations on-going with BP. We, as citizens, are again in the dark as to exactly what did all that oil and dispersant's do to our fish stocks and environment in the affected areas.

The studies are not going to come out until the litigation is all over. There are however plenty of studies on Corexit and its toxicity in the environment dating back to the 1970s. You can go to google scholar scholar.google.com and type in Corexit and you will get many hits.

["W"]

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.

Do you have a source or link to back what your saying about the oil amount picked up because I call 100% bull **** 700-900lbs everyday

And how do you know the fish population is half of what it was from 2005 when a lot of guides are posting record years from these areas

[TarponTom]

Originally Posted by "W"

Do you have a source or link to back what your saying about the oil amount picked up because I call 100% bull **** 700-900lbs everyday

And how do you know the fish population is half of what it was from 2005 when a lot of guides are posting record years from these areas

Interview from last week directly from oil spill cleanup workers. Have a good day.
http://www.theamericanzombie.com/201...bayou.html?m=1

["W"]

Originally Posted by TarponTom

Interview from last week directly from oil spill cleanup workers. Have a good day.
http://www.theamericanzombie.com/201...bayou.html?m=1

OMG LMAO x1000

America Zombie ??? C' Mon man ... Come with a creditable source ? I'm mean I have been in the oil field 13 years and I get emails from about 12 sources of Gulf News ,and no search proves this!

You post. A zombie link and in the comments people talking about emails getting hacked and virus LMAo

Man get me some real news

[meaux fishing]

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.

Am I missing something? The oil spill happened in 2010, so why are you comparing menhaden numbers from 2005?

["W"]

Originally Posted by meaux fishing

Am I missing something? The oil spill happened in 2010, so why are you comparing menhaden numbers from 2005?

And they still picking up 700-900 lbs of oil everyday..

[YellaBlazer]

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.

Could this also be from the big purse seiners out of Empire that supply the pogie plant?

Same could be said about the amount of mullet around Grand Isle/Elmers Island. I remember as a kid fishing the surf that there would me mullet rafts as far as you could see in any direction. You don't see that anymore either. Could this be due to the net fishermen that catch them for their eggs? I'm not sure, but it's another plausible possibility.