FFI Gulf Coast Council

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) has announced dates for public meetings to be held on spotted seatrout (speckled trout) management. The most recent stock assessment indicated spotted seatrout are overfished and undergoing overfishing and changes are necessary in order to recover the stock.

The slide to the left was part of the presentation given by LDWF biologists at the January meeting of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission. It shows that speckled trout spawning stocks have been on the decline since 2010, and below both the conservation target (yellow line) of 14 percent since 2012, and the recruitment threshold (magenta line) of 10.2 percent since 2013. It also shows what various savings in the spawning biomass or potential ratio (both had similiar graphs) would result in. CLICK on the images to enlarge.

No action is being taken at this time. The Commission indicated it would like to hear public input before considering management changes. LDWF’s biological opinion is that a 20% reduction in harvest is needed in order to recover the stock by 2025 or sooner, but there are a range of options that can achieve that goal. From the standpoint of Fly Fishers International Gulf Coast Council (FFI-GCC), the best management goal is one that takes us above the conservation target in the least amount of time.

Management change options recently presented to the LWFC in early January 2020 included:
– creel limit only changes
– minimum size limit changes only
– combined creel and minimum size limit changes
– slot limit only changes
– combined slot limit and creel changes.

Below is a list of meeting dates and locations. All meetings will begin at 6:00 p.m., except the meeting in Ruston, which will begin at 1:00 p.m.

– Monday, February 10 – North Branch Library, 4130 West Park Ave, Gray
– Wednesday, February 12 – LDWF HQ, Herring Room, 2000 Quail Drive, Baton Rouge
– Thursday, February 13 – Lafayette Council Chambers, 705 West University Avenue, Lafayette
– Wednesday, February 19 – East Bank Regional Library, 4747 West Napoleon Avenue, Metairie
– Thursday, February 20 – Slidell Municipal Auditorium, 2056 Second Street, Slidell
– Wednesday, February 26 – Calcasieu Parish Extension Office, 7101 Gulf Highway, Lake Charles
– Thursday, February 27 – Rapides Parish Extension Office, 300 Grady Britt Drive, Alexandria
– Saturday, February 29 – Lincoln Parish Library, 910 North Trenton Street, Ruston

LDWF is partnering with Louisiana Sea Grant to use interactive voting technology at these public hearings in response to a survey that will be given at the meetings. LDWF will also be sending out an email survey identical to the survey that will be administered at public meetings.

For more information, please contact Jason Adriance at 504-284-2032 or jadriance@wlf.la.gov.

The December meeting of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission will be held December 11th and 12th in Panama City. On the agenda are several marine fisheries management items, including the final proposal for changes in spotted seatrout management.

Florida’s spotted seatrout fishery is currently managed in four geographic zones: Northwest, Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast. A stock assessment completed by FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute suggests that spotted seatrout are not meeting the Commission’s management target in some of these zones and that the population status is declining in all zones.

At the October 2019 Commission meeting, the Commission approved a series of draft rules intended to improve both the fishery and angler satisfaction. At the December Commission meeting, FWC staff will present a final rule proposal that incorporates input heard at and since the draft rule hearing.

The proposed changes of interest to anglers in the Gulf Coast Council (extreme northwest Florida) include:
– splitting the Northwest Zone into a Western Panhandle Zone and Big Bend Zone
– adjusting the slot limit in the WPZ to 15″-19″, with one over the slot limit allowed per day
– reducing the daily creel limit in the WPZ from 5 to 3 fish
– impose winter closures in the WPZ for the month of February

More information on the final proposal can be found by clicking on this link.