Today, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission took action on a Notice of Intent to establish management reference points for black drum, sheepshead and southern flounder as authorized through Act 205 of the 2015 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature. 

A management target is defined as a fishing rate, biomass level or other fishery metric indicating stocks are sustainably fished. Management targets were developed from each stock’s history based on the most recent stock assessments for each species.

If an assessment indicates that current regulations do not meet or not likely to meet the established goals for a stock, the Department will provide management options to the LWF Commission for consideration.

To view the full notice of intent or for species-specific data, please visit here.

Interested persons may submit comments relative to the proposed rule to Jason Adriance, Fisheries Division, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000 or via email to jadriance@wlf.la.gov prior to May 5, 2016.