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Thread: Big Pogie

  1. #1
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    Default Big Pogie

    Seems with the fish oil supplement boom, LA fishermen believe that the menhaden industry is terrible for inshore gamefish...

    House backs limits on Louisiana's biggest fishery, but pogie bill faces tough path in Senate
    Environmental and sport fishing groups want restrictions on menhaden industry

    BY TRISTAN BAURICK
    APR 28, 2022

    A bill that would put the first substantial limits on Louisiana’s biggest but least-regulated commercial fishery cleared the state House of Representatives this week but could face fierce opposition in the Senate.

    House Bill 1033 would cap the menhaden catch in Louisiana waters at 573 million pounds per year and require menhaden fishing vessels to report daily locations and catch amounts to the state.

    The menhaden industry has avoided regulation in Louisiana while other Gulf of Mexico states have tightened rules, enacting catch limits and fishing exclusion zones to protect the many species that depend on the pencil-length fish for food.

    The measure passed by a wide margin – 75 to 22 – on Wednesday but the industry has more allies in the Senate, said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Joseph Orgeron, a Republican from Larose. Last year, another bill aimed at limiting the menhaden industry passed the House but died amid negotiations in a House-Senate conference committee. A Senate vote on the bill has yet to be scheduled.

    “As I’ve always said, ‘small fish, big debate,’” Orgeron said.

    Menhaden, also called pogies and bunker, serve as a key food source for birds, whales and fish popular with anglers. Fast-breeding menhaden are not considered at-risk, but many menhaden eaters, like speckled trout and dolphins, have suffered population declines in recent decades.

    Caught by the millions off the Louisiana coast each year, menhaden are processed into fertilizer, animal feed and health supplements. More pounds of menhaden are netted each year in the state’s waters than the combined hauls of the state’s better-known fisheries, including shrimp, crab, oysters and crawfish.

    This year’s bill was backed by conservation and recreational fishing groups but opposed by the menhaden industry and some of the communities that depend on it for jobs and tax dollars. South African company Daybrook Fisheries indicated the bill’s catch limits may force it to shut down its menhaden processing plant in south Plaquemines Parish, potentially putting 300 people out of work.

    The other menhaden processing plant in Louisiana is south of Abbeville. Owned by Omega Protein of Canada, the plant employs nearly 280 people and pays about $1 million in local taxes each year, said Rep. Ryan Bourriaque, R-Abbeville.

    Rep. Beryl Amedée, R-Houma, rejected the idea that Louisiana fishery rules should follow the lead of other states. Texas has menhaden catch limits and near-coast exclusion zones, Alabama and Mississippi have exclusion zones, and Florida prohibits all large-net fishing in its waters. East Coast states also have menhaden catch limits and other restrictions.

    “The restrictions in other states are not necessary in Louisiana because our coast is different; we have a working coast,” Amedée said.

    Being different, in this case, is nothing to be proud of, said Rep. Scott McKnight, R-Baton Rouge.

    “We constantly talk about how (Louisiana) is last,” he said, referring to the state’s frequent poor performance in national education, health care and other rankings. “Well, here we are again, the last state, this time in protecting our natural resources.”

    https://www.nola.com/news/environmen...6a9f3efb2.html

  2. #2
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    Hope it passes


    LA is going to regret this thinking:

    “The restrictions in other states are not necessary in Louisiana because our coast is different”

  3. #3
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    I cannot fathom how LA has any fish left based on the way they kill them but they do.

    Tuna fishing, inshore and nearshore would benefit from more menahden.

    Same goes for NC and SC.

  4. #4
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    There used to be some big menhaden boats off the coast of NC and also boats harvesting sargassum (dolphin weedline grass). both of those products are used in the vitamin and supplement industry. MG
    Dum Spiro Spero

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maggie Glover View Post
    harvesting sargassum
    I am not sure if humans are more like termites or those virus strains that attack their hosts at the cellular level.

  6. #6
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    Tough call. Depending on what resource we're attacking it could go either way.
    "Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration" -Izaak Walton

  7. #7
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    I thought "Big Pogie" was Fish's dock name back when he was first mate'n along the grand strand.

  8. #8
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    Harvesting sargassum in the Florida Keys in the summertime would be one hell of a lucrative business assuming someone would buy it.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn View Post
    I thought "Big Pogie" was Fish's dock name back when he was first mate'n along the grand strand.
    That's what the drama club guys called him.
    "Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration" -Izaak Walton

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  11. #11
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    Sargassum Legislation: Here was the bill we worked on that was passed back in 2003. https://safmc.net/fishery-management...s/sargassum-2/

    They were seriously trying to take it all. Imagine the waters we fish devoid of any surface structure bio or not. The pelagic food chain would be devastated. People spend hundreds and thousands of dollars extra to run to find a weedline, SiriusXM Fishing has weedline mapping as one of their nine features https://siriusxmcommunications.com/fishmapping/

    MG
    Dum Spiro Spero

  12. #12
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    The pelagic food chain would be devastated
    Sargassum is the cradle of our ocean. That it dies and washes up in front of hotels full of unwashed heathens is irrelevant. So is the entire "industry". You don't fuck with cradles. Or, at the very least, you shouldn't...

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