Wild Crawfish
LDWF is responsible for monitoring and managing wild crawfish through gear, licensing, and reporting requirements. Harvest controls are not necessary to protect the crawfish resource as their populations are resilient and influenced by environmental conditions, rather than fishing. While biologists conduct studies on wild crawfish, they do not sample and survey the populations like other fishery resources. To monitor wild crawfish harvests, LDWF requires docks that purchase crawfish directly from commercial fishermen to submit trip tickets to capture information about their catch—what it is, where and how it was caught, etc. Commercial fishermen who sell their catch directly to consumers are also required to complete and submit trip tickets.