LCBA NEWSLETTER, March 2017
LCBA Holds Annual General Membership Meeting

The Louisiana Charter Boat Association thanks those who attended our annual General Membership Meeting earlier this month.

LCBA staff presented lots of great information on all the hard work we've been doing to protect and promote Louisiana's charter-for-hire industry over the course of the last 12 months.

In the last year, membership has increased dramatically. So has our digital presence. We've also held several meetings with elected and appointed officials and have been visible at public meetings fighting for the regulations that benefit you most.

We also listened to our members and responded to their concerns and questions at the General Membership Meeting.

Thanks to our members for supporting all of LCBA's successes in the past year, and we strive to make the next year even more successful.


LCBA Attends Louisiana Sportsman Show

Louisiana Charter Boat Association staff, board members and members attended the Louisiana Sportsman Show in Gonzales earlier this month.

We spoke to vendors and discussed participation in our soon-to-be launched Guide Discount Program. We also spoke to Louisiana charter-for-hire captains and expanded our membership.

LCBA staff spent quite a bit of time at the Louisiana Sportsmen's Coalition booth, informing event patrons of the best ways to get involved in the fight for public access to tidally-influenced waters.

Bad NOAA Fisheries Sampling Data, or Florida Overharvest, or Both, Closes Recreational Amberjack Season for Rest of 2017

The federal recreational amberjack season closed March 24 and will remain closed for the remainder of the year.

According to NOAA Fisheries’ sampling, the 2017 recreational catch target of 335,741 pounds was reached March 24.

The amount of amberjack recreational fishermen could catch was about 60 percent smaller in 2017 than it usually is because, according to NOAA Fisheries’ sampling, 2016 amberjack harvest went over the catch limit by about 60 percent. Due to a payback accountability measure, these excess pounds of amberjack must come out of the following year’s quota.

According to NOAA Fisheries’ 2016 sampling, the state of Florida caught more than 80 percent of the yearly amount of amberjack available for the entire gulf to catch in just March and April of 2016. It was the Gulf’s highest two-month estimate since 1993, and in the last five years, only one two-month estimate had even reached half of that total.

So whether Florida fishermen are indeed overharvesting or whether the NOAA Fisheries’ sampling method is grossly imprecise, or both, Louisiana fishermen suffer and will now not be able to harvest every amberjack they catch for the next nine months and change.

Obviously, the red snapper fight is enough to get our captains fired up about the need for regional management, but here’s another, and possibly more ridiculous, example of why we need it.

Stakeholders Oppose Resolution's Unintended Consequences to Hunting and Fishing Community

LCBA encourages members of the public to contact Louisiana Treasurer Ron Henson as well as their local state legislators in support of “a resolution for logic” recently passed by the Hunting and Fishing Advisory Education Council.

The Council is made up of Louisiana’s hunting and fishing stakeholders including LCBA, and the resolution asks the State Treasurer and the State Legislature to ward off the potential harm to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and its stakeholders brought on by House Concurrent Resolution 1.

Passed in February, HCR1 directs the State Treasurer to look at all funds that pass through the state’s Security and Redemption Fund and grants the Treasurer authority to take 3 percent off these funds at his discretion. In total, this could provide the state with $97M from all agencies to cover projected deficits. Of this $97M, $2.9M can come from LDWF. Due to the 1937 Pittman-Robinson Federal Aid in Wildlife Act, LDWF would lose $22M in federal matching grants if the Treasurer chooses to siphon 3 percent from LDWF's constitutionally-dedicated funds.

In short, taking this money provides nothing to the state that it can’t already take while hurting hunting and fishing stakeholders and costing LDWF $22M. Hunting and Fishing Advisory Education Council reps from fellow Louisiana stakeholders such as CCA, Ducks Unlimited, Wild Turkey Federation, Bass Federation and the Outdoor Writer’s Association, among others, joined LCBA in pledging support for this resolution.

Fortunately, there are two ways in which the public can help stop this unintended consequence of state bureaucracy.

First, members of the public can contact the Louisiana Department of the Treasury requesting that the Treasurer chooses not to take 3 percent from these LDWF dedicated funds. The Department of the Treasury can be reached at 225-342-0010 or by email by filling out this submission form.

Second, members of the public can contact their state legislators and ask them to support a bill in the upcoming legislative session which would take these LDWF dedicated funds out of the Security and Redemption Fund and therefore exempt them from HCR1.

Members of the public can use the following links to find and contact their state legislators:

Louisiana House of Representatives




Louisiana Senate




Fishing News Links
What we've been up to....
LCBA Fights For Public Water Access at State Capitol

Louisiana Charter Boat Association representatives Daryl Carpenter, Ben Weber and Richard Fischer participated in a forum at the State Capitol last month aimed at addressing public access to water that ebbs and flows with the tide.

Stakeholders on both sides of the issue were present.

Although we were not pleased with the lack of potential concessions presented to recreational fishermen by property owners and their representatives, this meeting was a good first step in getting the necessary parties in the same room to fairly ensure Louisiana's $1.6B annual economic impact through recreational fishing thrives long into the future.

LCBA will continue advocating for public access to water that ebbs and flows with the tide every chance we get.

LCBA Meets with Louisiana Office of Tourism

LCBA staff met with Louisiana Office of Tourism Assistant Secretary Kyle Edmiston earlier this month and discussed several ways in which we could help each other achieve our common goal of attracting tourists to Louisiana and getting them on board with a licensed and insured charter guide.

Our discussion was very productive, and we have already begun working with the Louisiana Office of Tourism to promote Louisiana fishing.

LCBA thanks the Louisiana Office of Tourism for taking the time to meet with us and being receptive to our ideas on how to promote Louisiana fishing.

LCBA Presents Gulf Council Update at March LWF Commission Meeting

LCBA Communications Manager Richard Fischer attended the March Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission Meeting in Natchitoches earlier this month.

Richard provided a report on Gulf Council proceedings to the Commission.

His report consisted of updating the Commission on the passage of electronic logbooks and the unexpected progress of Amendment 41 at the February Gulf Council Meeting in New Orleans, while also providing the voting records of the three Louisiana Council members to the Commission.

LCBA thanks the Commission for inviting LCBA to speak at the March meeting, and we look forward to providing Council updates to the Commission at future meetings as well.

Related links:

For a breakdown of what happened at the last Gulf Council Meeting, click the following links:

Central / Grand Isle Basin Report Posted

LCBA's latest Basin Report and the first featuring offshore fishing has been posted!

Click here to check it out on YouTube!

Thanks to Central / Grand Isle member captain Ian McGowan of Apex Fishing Charters for taking Communications Manager Richard Fischer out for the fourth installment of this series.

You can watch the first three Basin Reports by clicking on the following links:

LCBA has already filmed in the West / Lake Charles Basin and will be posting the next Basin Report soon. Any member captain who fishes out of the South / Mississippi River Basin (Empire, Buras, Boothville or Venice) is welcome to email Richard at richard@louisianasaltwater.com to express interest in participating in this series.

Please consider taking advantage of this wonderful marketing opportunity.

Fishing Lifestyle Links
Speckled Trout in Protected, Easy-to-Reach Area
Anyone with any size boat can have success catching speckled trout right now, according to one of Southeast Louisiana's most successful fishing guides.

Capt. Mike Gallo had clients in town Wednesday.....

Click here to read the story in its entirety.
Big Lake Specks Turning On
Pretty water and relatively warm temperatures have speckled trout turning on in Calcasieu Lake now, according to a local fishing guide....

Click here to read the story in its entirety.
Wintertime Hotspot Still Producing Speckled Trout
Capt. Ross Eichorn took advantage of gorgeous late-February conditions to put some speckled trout in the boat in Terrebonne Parish's Lake DeCade....

Click here to read the story in its entirety.
Louisiana Charter Boat Association | 225-421-9130 | lasaltwater.com