Nutria
Incentive Program Ends With 332,596 Harvested
Posted:
4/15/04
The 2003-04 harvest
under the Coastwide Nutria Control Program concluded on March
31, 2004. Three hundred forty-six participants harvested a
total of 332,596 nutria. This year's harvest was an increase
of 24,436 over last year's harvest of 308,160. Nutria are
invasive species that devour coastal marsh grasses, causing
erosion and eventual marsh disintegration. The program is
conducted by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
and funded by the Coastal Wetlands Planning Protection and
Restoration Act.
The harvest began
on the first day of trapping season, November 20, 2003. The
program’s goal was to reduce or eliminate damage to
Louisiana's wetlands caused by nutria by increasing the annual
harvest up to 400,000 animals. In order to increase the harvest,
the program distributed $4 for each nutria tail brought by
official participants to official collection locations along
Louisiana's coast.
The program area
was bounded on the north by Interstate 10 from the Texas line
to Baton Rouge, Interstate 12 from Baton Rouge to Slidell,
and Interstate 10 from Slidell to the Mississippi line.
Information was
collected from each participant in order to determine the
method of take, carcass use, and harvest date and location.
The information on the harvest location was refined to each
participant's lease this year to show more precise locations
of nutria harvest in order to track accomplishments towards
the goal.
Similar to last
year, the majority of nutria were harvested in the southeastern
portion of the state, which also has the most wetland damage
caused by nutria. However, specific locations of high take
within the southeastern portion were different from last year.
This year, the largest harvest (86,720 nutria) occurred in
Plaquemines Parish, and the second largest harvest occurred
in Terrebonne Parish (72,846 nutria). Significant harvests
also occurred in Lafourche (51,736 nutria), Jefferson (24,896
nutria) and St. Bernard (13,344 nutria) parishes.
LDWF will
assess the amount and severity of the nutria damage for 2004
during aerial surveys to be conducted in April and May. A
final report on the 2003-04 incentive program and aerial surveys
will be available in July at the Web site, http://www.nutria.com.
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