LDWF
Secretary Bryant O. Hammett, Jr. announced that the 2006/07
oyster season in the Primary Public Oyster Seed Grounds east
of the Mississippi River, the Lake Borgne Public Oyster Seed
Grounds, the Bay Gardene Public Oyster Seed Reservation, the
Hackberry Bay Public Oyster Seed Reservation, the Little Lake
Public Oyster Seed Grounds, and the Vermilion/East and West
Cote Blanche/Atchafalaya Bay Public Oyster Seed Grounds will
close at one-half hour after sunset on Sunday, April 1, 2007.
The Calcasieu Lake Public Oyster Area shall close at one-half
hour after sunset on Monday, April 30, 2007.
Oyster harvest
in these areas during the 2006/07-oyster season has provided
valuable economic return to the Louisiana oyster industry,
but has reduced market-size oyster resources according to
LDWF Marine Fisheries Division biologists. In addition, the
LDWF Enforcement Division has encountered a higher-than-average
number of cases during recent months involving the harvest
of undersize oysters for market purposes. The closure is being
made to protect the remaining oyster resources in these areas.
Biologists have also noted young oyster spat in recent biological
samples from these areas and feel the protection of these
spat is important to the long-term sustainability of the oyster
reefs.
