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Home > Current News > 2008

News: 2008

Shrimp Season to Close in Remainder of Zone 2
Posted: 6/25/08

The 2008 spring inshore shrimp season in the remainder of Shrimp Management Zone 2 extending from the Atchafalaya River Ship Channel at Eugene Island as delineated by the Channel red buoy line westward to the western shore of Vermilion Bay and Southwest Pass at Marsh Island and from the western shore of Bayou Lafourche eastward to the eastern shore of South Pass of the Mississippi River will close on Monday, June 30, at 6 a.m.

Effective with this closure, all of Zone 2 will be closed to shrimping. Zones 1 and 3 will remain open until further notice. State territorial waters south of the Inside/Outside shrimp line, as described in Louisiana R.S.56:495, will also remain open to shrimping.

Zone 1 includes state waters from the Mississippi/Louisiana state line to the eastern shore of South Pass of the Mississippi River. Zone 3 includes state waters from the western shore of Vermilion Bay and Southwest Pass at Marsh Island to the Louisiana/Texas state line.

The closure was announced today by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham and was based on recommendations made by LDWF Marine Fisheries Division biologists.

The number, distribution and percentage of small juvenile white shrimp within the area to be closed have progressively increased in recent weeks. Analysis of current LDWF shrimp trawl sampling data indicates substantial white shrimp population increases this week and these additional waters are being closed to protect these developing shrimp.

Paul Cook, Biologist Manager who supervises LDWF Marine Fisheries Division operations in the Vermilion/Atchafalaya Bay complex, noted that high Mississippi and Atchafalaya River discharge rates have influenced both water temperature and salinity levels leading up to the spring shrimp season which caused quite a bit of anxiety among the shrimping industry. Despite cooler water temperatures and extremely fresh water conditions seen at the season's opening, shrimp fishermen have harvested approximately 8.6 million of pounds of shrimp in May (all species combined/heads-off weight) according to preliminary data developed by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

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