SHRIMP SEASON TO CLOSE IN PORTIONS OF ZONE 1

Release Date: 06/26/2009

(Click here for a pdf version of the map)

The 2009 spring inshore shrimp season in Shrimp Management Zone 1 will close on Tuesday, June 30, at 6:00 a.m. except for the following portions of Zone 1:

• Zone 1
   Lake Pontchartrain including Rigoletes Pass from the mouth of Lake Pontchartrain extending eastward to the western side of the CSX Railway Bridge
• Chef Menteur Pass from the mouth of Lake Pontchartrain southeasterly to the mouth of Lake Borgne
• That portion of Mississippi Sound beginning at a point on the Louisiana-Mississippi Lateral Boundary at latitude 30 degrees 09 minutes 39.6 seconds north and longitude 89 degrees 30 minutes 00.0 seconds west; thence due south to a point at latitude 30 degrees 05 minutes 00.0 seconds north and longitude 89 degrees 30 minutes 00.0 seconds west; thence southeasterly to a point on the western shore of Three-Mile Pass at latitude 30 degrees 03 minutes 00.0 seconds north and longitude 89 degrees 22 minutes 23.0 seconds west; thence northeasterly to a point on Isle Au Pitre at latitude 30 degrees 09 minutes 20.5 seconds north and longitude 89 degrees 11 minutes 15.5 seconds west, which is a point on the double?rig line as described in LA R.S. 56:495.1(A)2; thence northerly along the double?rig line to a point on the Louisiana-Mississippi Lateral Boundary at latitude 30 degrees 12 minutes 37.9056 seconds north and longitude 89 degrees 10 minutes 57.9725 seconds west; thence westerly along the Louisiana-Mississippi Lateral Boundary to the point of beginning
• The open waters of Breton and Chandeleur Sounds as described by the double-rig line (LA R.S.56:495.1)

Lake Pontchartrain, Chef Menteur Pass, Rigolets Pass, a portion of Mississippi Sound and the open waters of Breton and Chandeleur Sounds will remain open until further notice.  Shrimp Management Zone III as well as state territorial waters seaward 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.

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

The number, distribution and percentage of small juvenile white shrimp within the areas to be closed have progressively increased in recent weeks and these waters are being closed to protect these developing shrimp.  Brian Lezina, LDWF Biologist Manager, who supervises LDWF Office of Fisheries operations in the Lake Pontchartrain basin stated that "Despite this year?s shortened spring shrimp season, the season extension within Lake Pontchartrain, Chef Menteur and Rigolets Passes, and portions of Mississippi, Breton and Chandeleur Sounds should provide added economic opportunities to shrimp fishermen targeting larger emigrating brown shrimp while limiting impacts to developing white shrimp populations found in shallower adjacent waters."  However, he cautioned that "all or portions of these waters would be closed if sample data and fisheries monitoring indicate unacceptable impacts to developing white shrimp populations or if law enforcement problems develop".

For more information, contact Martin Bourgeois at 225/765-2401 (mbourgeois@wlf.la.gov).

2009-197