Tagged: fishing

The commercial king mackerel season will open July 1 in Louisiana waters and will close when the 1.18 million-pound quota is met.

The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission set the season dates Thursday.

King mackerel is a significant commercial fishery in Louisiana. From 2000 through 2011 Louisiana has landed, on average, about 75 percent of the quota allotted for the western Gulf of Mexico.

That included more than 1 million pounds in 2011. A significant amount of the king mackerel landed in Louisiana is shipped to markets in the northeastern U.S.

Louisiana anglers and those planning a fishing trip to the state will be able to get information, licenses and a spot to chat online with other fishermen at what state tourism officials call a fishing microsite opening early in January.

Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne says Louisiana is the world's finest fishing destination, and the state wants to help related businesses.

Louisiana's fall shrimp season is closing in most state inside waters.

Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham said last week that the season would close for most inside waters at sunset Tuesday to let white shrimp grow larger and more valuable.

On Monday, he set closing Dec. 30 in parts of Lake Pelto and Terrebonne and Timbalier bays where the fall inshore season had been briefly extended.

Gulf of Mexico fishing boats hauled in far more menhaden last year than in 2010. Catches of some other important species were above pre-spill levels in some Gulf Coast states. But a federal official says it's too early to rule out long-term effects from the spill.

A national report released Wednesday says the Gulf's menhaden catch last year was nearly 66 percent above that in 2010. Other species also showed increases.

Roy Crabtree of NOAA Fisheries says that's guardedly good news. But he says it's probably too soon to tell whether the spill killed eggs and immature fish.