LCBA NEWSLETTER, January 2017
Primer: What Will Be Discussed at New Orleans Gulf Council Meeting

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will meet for the only time in 2017 on Louisiana soil next week.

The meeting will take place Jan. 30 through Feb. 2 at Astor Crowne Plaza (739 Canal Street in New Orleans).

Click on each link for a brief look at some of the things that will be discussed that affects our charter fleet:


Please Show Up and Speak During the Council's Public Comments Session

The Gulf Council will accept public comments from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1 at Astor Crowne Plaza (739 Canal Street in New Orleans).

It is impossible to overstate the importance of you, the charter captains of Louisiana, showing up and speaking next week. You can be sure captains from other states who do not share your views will show up and speak. Therefore, it is imperative that Louisiana has the strongest showing.

If you don’t show up and speak at the only meeting in your home state, you may find yourself having to abide by rules and regulations you aren’t comfortable with, and by that point, it’ll be too late to change them.

Below is a quick look at the two topics you’re most likely to want to touch on with some talking points on each.

Comments on Electronic Logbooks

From our conversations with you, the majority of our captains would offer comments...

  • Against VMS. The current preferred alternative does not require VMS, but the other side only needs two votes to flip that.

  • Against the device being fixed to the vessel. Ask for the words "National Marine Fisheries approved device" to be removed from the wording of the preferred alternative.

  • In favor of weekly reporting over daily reporting. If weekly is good enough for the South Atlantic Council, why not the Gulf Council?

Comments on Amendment 41

From our conversations with you, the majority of our captains would comment....

  • Because you're concerned with the number of days you'd get to fish for red snapper through Amendment 41. Although it is uncertain how many days of red snapper fishing you would get through allocation-based management under Amendment 41, all projections show it would begin with considerably fewer than you receive now.

  • In favor of the Council giving long-term harvest histories greater credence than recent harvest histories in their allocation formula. This would give Louisiana a more fair allocation.

  • In favor of the Council considering Eastern vs Western Gulf biomass in the allocation formula. This would give Louisiana a more fair allocation.

  • In favor of assigning the allocation to a captain’s permit, and not the captain himself (PFQ over IFQ). This will at the very least delay, and hopefully remove, the ability for the buying, selling and trading of allocation. We showed you this long-term fear stemming from buying, selling and trading allocation a few months ago. Big business privatized the commercial fishery. It’ll happen to the charter sector too if we don’t stand up and stop it now. 

Whether you are planning on speaking or not, we encourage you to email each individual Council member your thoughts this week.

Click here for email addresses to all 17 voting members of the Council.
Anglers Must Fight for Access to Waterways That Ebb and Flow With the Tide

For those who don’t know, current state law allows property owners to claim ownership of water bottoms and restrict public access to the free running water that sits above these water bottoms.

Every other state guarantees public access to all waterways ebbing and flowing with the tide, abiding by the Public Trust Doctrine, even if the water sits above a private water bottom.

Inshore fishermen are being run out of fishing areas that are claimed private – sometimes at the threat of physical violence – by land owners, lease owners or their workers. Worse, some anglers have been arrested on trespassing charges in some jurisdictions. This is happening in fishing spots anglers have fished in for decades, and the frequency of confrontations and makeshift gates blocking these areas has increased exponentially in recent years.

This is a complicated issue with several complex factors. We would like to make abundantly clear that we are in no way disputing the ownership or mineral rights of these water bottoms. We are not against private property rights, we’re merely looking to protect public access to the fishery which sits atop them.

A recent NOAA financial study found that Louisiana recreational fishing has a $1.02 billion annual economic impact, and recreational fishing accounts for 15,000 jobs. These figures rely on recreational fishermen having public access to our waterways.

If anglers don’t come together to save the future of recreational fishing, everybody loses.

As more and more people become aware of this issue, the Louisiana Charter Boat Association would like to encourage anyone interested to help any way they can. A good place to start is to visit and "Like" the Louisiana Sportsmen's Coalition Facebook page.

There, you can join the conversation with other anglers to stay up to speed on the fight to restore public access to many of Louisiana's long-standing favorite fishing spots.

This is a battle that can be won, but your support is needed to do so.

We encourage anglers spread the word about this issue every chance you get.

Please let your elected officials know their response to this issue will affect your vote in the next election.

LCBA's latest basin report has been posted

Click here to watch LCBA's latest basin report, featuring the New Orleans West Basin this time.

This basin includes the fishing communities of Barataria and Lafitte, as well as favorite fishing spots like The Rigollettes, The Pen and Lake Salvador.

Holding several redfish tournaments annually, this basin is a top-notch choice for outdoor-loving tourists who want a break from the hustle and bustle of the French Quarter. From the quaint scenery to the beautiful south Louisiana marshes, you’d never know one of America’s most desirable cities is a mere minutes away! You really feel like you’re away from it all without putting in the time to get there.

In addition to the redfish this area is known for, the trout bite is quite good here also, as is black drum, flounder and sheepshead. Because this region is more inshore than most along south Louisiana, you can catch some freshwater catfish in the northern portion of this region too.

Thanks to member captain Craig Matherne of Bourgeois Fishing Charters for participating.

This is Part 3 of a 6-part series, as basin report videos have already been posted for the New Orleans East and Central / Houma basins.

Any captain in the West / Lake Charles Basin or the Central / Grand Isle Basin who is interested in being featured in this series may contact LCBA Communications Manager Richard Fischer at richard@louisianasaltwater.com. It's a great opportunity to gain exposure for your business.

We have already received a commitment from a captain for the South / Mississippi River Basin Report.
Fishing Lifestyle Links
Ragley Angler Takes Toledo Bend 10.77 Pounder
Jeff Broussard lands largest bass ever on a Carolina-rigged worm in Housen....

Click here to read the story in its entirety.
Under Utilized Lure Producing Plenty of Speckled Trout for This Guide
In an ordinary January, speckled trout aren't terribly selective. They're stacked up in deep holes that offer about as much to eat as the top of Mount Everest....

Click here to read the story in its entirety.
Fishing News Links
What we've been up to....
LWF Commission opens state recreational red snapper season 7 days per week on Feb. 1

The 2017 recreational red snapper season in state waters will begin Feb. 1 and be seven days per week with a limit of two fish per angler per day. Minimum length is 16 inches.

The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission made this official during its January meeting, held Thursday in Baton Rouge.

Projections show that Louisiana will reach its self-imposed quota of 1.1 million pounds of red snapper around late summer or early fall. At that point, the season will be closed.

The Commission’s decision goes against the results of an online survey conducted by LDWF. The survey was sent out to 1,000 Recreational Offshore Landings Permit holders in October. The survey found that the vast majority of the respondees were in favor of a weekends-only season, and a smaller majority were in favor of a higher daily bag limit at the expense of fewer days to fish.

LDWF’s recommendation to the Commission for the 2017 season reflected these poll results.

Louisiana’s charter fleet, which was not specifically polled by LDWF in this survey (although some charter fishermen may have been included in the survey), would certainly oppose a weekends-only season and likely oppose a higher daily bag limit at the expense of fewer days to fish.

It must be noted that federally-permitted charter captains cannot participate in this state red snapper season due to Amendment 30B. These captains are only allowed to participate in the federal red snapper season, which has not been set yet. LCBA continues its commitment to leaving no stone unturned in our effort for these charter captains to be able to participate in a state red snapper season.
LDWF takes input from federally-permitted captains during three meetings

High-ranking LDWF officials held three meetings with Louisiana federally-permitted charter captains earlier this month.

These meetings were held so that the Department could get feedback from the offshore fleet regarding their opinions on hot-button topics such as electronic logbooks and allocation-based management of red snapper, among other topics.

Unsurprisingly, the opinions presented to LDWF mirrored the ones LCBA employees and board members have been giving the Department for quite some time now.

It is our hope that LDWF will respect the wishes of our fleet in fisheries management decisions on both the state and federal level.

Several LCBA members and board members attended these meetings, and we thank them for taking time out of their schedules to participate in the process.
We're giving away another inshore fishing trip!

There's still time to enter to win a Louisiana inshore fishing trip for two people!

The winner will have the opportunity to choose any LCBA inshore captain they'd like. The winner will have one year from the date the prize is awarded to redeem the trip. LCBA will facilitate initial communications between the winner and the selected captain. LCBA will cover the cost of the trip and pay the selected captain the deposit upon booking and the balance immediately following completion of the trip.

Promote this opportunity to your customers and they could be fishing with you for free, and you still get paid!

LCBA staff, board members, member captains, immediate family members and those living in the same household are not eligible to win.

If you're eligible and interested in entering the sweepstakes, all you have to do is "Like" our Facebook page AND "Like" our Jan. 24 Facebook post promoting the sweepstakes (Facebook post pictured in the photo above). You have until Feb. 20 at noon CST to enter.

We also request that our captains spread the word about this sweepstakes through email, social media or word of mouth. Our Facebook likes spike as a direct result of people entering the contest, which,of course, means more exposure for LCBA and our member captains.

Louisiana Charter Boat Association | 225-421-9130 | lasaltwater.com