SHRIMPING REGULATIONS

To recreationally shrimp, a person will need basic and saltwater licenses. To use a trawl, a person will additionally need a gear license for a trawl which can be purchased at any license issuing facility.

AREAS

Shrimping areas in Louisiana are divided into inshore waters, the offshore territorial sea, and the federal Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The line (shrimp line) that separates inside waters from outside territorial waters generally follows the coastline, although there are some exceptions. For specific boundary locations check with your local Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Agent. Maps of the shrimp line are available at a charge of $10 per map by writing the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA 70898. Please specify which area of the coast you are interested in. The line that separates state territorial waters from the EEZ generally follows the Louisiana coast three miles from

shore. For specific boundary locations, particularly in the Grand Isle and Marsh Island area, you should contact your local Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Agent. For management purposes, both state inside and state outside territorial waters are divided into three shrimp management zones; Zone 1 extends from the Louisiana/Mississippi state line to the eastern shore of South Pass of the Mississippi River; Zone 2 extends from the eastern shore of South Pass of the Mississippi River to the western shore of Vermilion Bay and Southwest Pass at Marsh Island; Zone 3 extends from the western shore of Vermilion Bay and Southwest Pass at Marsh Island to the Louisiana/Texas state line.

NOTE: Restricted areas exist within Wildlife Management Areas, Refuges and other areas which may be closed to certain gear types or methods of fishing. Consult your local Wildlife and Fisheries Office or Enforcement Agent and the WMAsection of this pamphlet. No person shall trawl, seine or use a skimmer net over any privately leased bedding grounds or oyster propagating place which is staked off, marked or posted as required by law or regulation. Trawling is prohibited in Lake Maurepas and that portion of Lake Pontchartrain from the shoreline to 1 1/4 miles out from the Jefferson/Orleans Parish line east to the eastern shore of South Point, from South Point to North Shore along the railroad bridge west from North Shore to Goose Point. Trawling is prohibited between the railroad bridge and I-10 in Lake Pontchartrain. Trawling at night is prohibited in Calcasieu Lake, the Black Bayou system, and Little Burtons Ditch (all in the Calcasieu Lake area) and in Grand Lake and White Lake. Night shrimping is prohibited in Vermilion Bay, East and West Cote Blanche Bays, and Atchafalaya Bay, from the western shore of Vermilion Bay to the western shore of the Atchafalaya River and the Atchafalaya River Ship Channel out to Eugene Island as described by the inside-outside line in R.S. 56:495. Trawls are prohibited in the waters of Bayou Judge Perez from its entrance into Lake Judge Perez to Devils Bayou, a distance of approximately one mile, located in Plaquemines Parish. Trawling north of the U.S. Highway 90 bridge at Des Allemands and in Lake Des Allemands, its streams and tributaries, is prohibited. Trawling is prohibited in the cove immediately adjacent to Cypremort Point State Park landward of a line from Blue Point to Cypremort Point to the shoreline. Grand Isle Beach closed out to 500' May to September by Commission action.

SEASONS

METHODS OF TAKING

During open seasons, saltwater shrimp may be taken with trawls or cast nets and by no other means. Bait shrimp may be taken at any time, even during the closed season, with cast nets less than 8 1/2 feet in radius, hand operated dip nets with a diameter not to exceed three feet, bait traps, and bait seines less than 30 feet with a maximum mesh size of 1/4" bar, 1/2” stretched mesh which are manually operated on foot only.

Cast Nets, Dip Nets, Bait Seines: A recreational angler may use dip nets, bait seines, and cast nets not to exceed 8 1/2 feet in radius, but shall not take at anytime more than 50 pounds of shrimp during closed season and 100 pounds of shrimp per day during the open season, in the aggregate, per day per boat or vehicle, regardless of the number of persons thereon, provided the shrimp taken are used for bait or for the fisherman's own consumption and are not sold, traded or otherwise permitted to enter into commerce.

Certain wildlife management areas and state or federal refuges may have different rules, consult local LDWF office or Enforcement Agent for specifics. (See WMA and Refuge Section)

Trawls: Trawls, skimmer nets and butterfly nets cannot have a mesh size less than 5/8 inch bar or 1 1/4 inches stretched. In Zone 2 from the western shore of the Atchafalaya River to the western shore of Vermilion Bay and Southwest Pass at Marsh Island, mesh size must not be less than 3/4 inch bar or 1 1/2 inches stretched during the fall inshore shrimp season. No net or beam trawl used for taking fish or shrimp from the saltwater areas of the state shall be left unattended, as defined in R.S. 56:8(102) except such legal nets or trawls which are attached to a wharf at a camp and which are tagged with a department tag issued in conjunction with the gear being used. During the open shrimping seasons, trawls 25 feet and less may be used for recreational purposes; recreational shrimpers using trawls 16 feet in length or less are limited to 100 pounds (heads on) of shrimp per boat, and recreational shrimpers using trawls exceeding 16 feet but not exceeding 25 feet in length are limited to no more than 250 pounds of (heads-on) shrimp per day per boat, provided the shrimp taken are used for bait or the fisherman's own consumption and are not sold, traded or otherwise permitted to enter commerce. A recreational trawl license is required. See license section for license prices.