Oyster Overharvesting in Calcasieu Estuary in 2010- 2011: References needed
We've completed the data analysis from our creel survey data from 2011 and 2012 relating to the Calcasieu Estuary. The data and other background suggests that the dominant factor most likely responsible for the decline in the condition factor of fish and slow growth is the overharvesting of oysters from Calcasieu Lake in the 2010-2011 oystering season. We're writing up our results now and hope to have a draft ready to submit for publication in a few weeks.
We've found a number of relevant LDWF press releases and also the info and reports at the CCAL site and popular press, as well as a relevent LSU Master's Thesis by Steven Beck. The purpose of this post is to request pointers to additional references or study results regarding the overharvesting of oysters in Calcasieu Estuary at any time from 2005 to the present, but especially in 2010-2011. Certainly pointers to references related to other possible causal factors would be appreciated as well. |
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1st season they went to dregging it was over harvested |
It has been very difficult to get any actual data from LDWF especially since the oil spill, they have been issued a gag order from their attorneys. You can sometimes go to lsu.edu in the natural resources department and look at theses and dissertations under the students' major professor. They sometimes have them as a .pdf file under their profile. Sending you a PM
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As much as I respect your opinion, I don't think I can cite "W at Salty Cajun said so" in a scholarly paper. |
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LDWF has been very tight with the info. We've gotten a couple of letters in legalese from their attorneys in response to requests for info. Thanks for the hints and the PM. |
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Is there any data?? |
Try shooting an email to Dr. Megan LaPeyre with LSU RNR, she should be able to point you to something your looking for.
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Not sure if this will help.....
The picture were taken on 4-21-10 along the south bank of the lake. This was just 2 of the many many oyster dredging boat that I saw that day. There must have been 30 or 40 boats working the SW part of Big Lake and West Cove areas. There was steady traffic going and coming from Cameron that day. |
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Who knows?:confused: Not sure about Calcasieu Lake, but there is data from the other side of the state but its probably the cultch data where they seed em on that side. LSU has a good coastal program so it would make sense for them to have better data on that side. Sabine Lake on the other hand is supposed to be home to an incredible oyster reef, one of the last remnant natural reefs and Texas has made it known that no harvest will take place on this reef and La has also agreed to it on our side, but not with the passion that TX had. Oysters seem to really be political:smokin::(. The secretary of LDWF gave a talk a couple weeks back and he wanted so bad to tell it like it was but kept talking about a gag order that was issued since the oil spill. |
Thanks for the tips and pointers and encouragements. Found the hard data I need here:
http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/sites/d...ent-report.pdf and http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/sites/d...assessment.pdf These are the official state oyster stock assessments. The graph below shows the decline in oysters on the east side of Calcasieu Lake (Area 29). http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...25323894_o.jpg |
Wow, what does the E sack and E seed exactly mean? and how did assess the stock? Thanks
Looks like it rebounded fairly quick after 2006 |
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I also found some hard numbers on the average number of vessels landing oysters each month for the area 29 and area 30 combined (E and W Calcasieu Lake). Along with the illegal harvesting on the E. side (see LDWF Press releases from March 2011), the increase in pressure has contributed to the reduced stocks.
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...83534589_o.jpg |
The dearth of oysters suggests it would be good to keep every black drum you catch until the oysters come back. Big bull drum can devour 2-4 dozen oysters per day, and even the smaller black drum can wreak havoc on the seed oysters and the spat.
All the fisheries in Big Lake benefit from healthy oyster reefs, and in the areas where oystering will be closed, the drum are the biggest enemy of a quick return of healthy oyster reefs. |
It's not the dredges that are over harvesting, it is the number of licenses.
Before dredging, there was probably 75 or so boats. After the dredging was made legal, the number was over 200 licenses. It is too easy to dredge. The tong fishermen caught their 15 sacks a day. But trippling the number of boats really hurt. They let them dredge, hoping that they would roll more oysters, making them grow better and kill the mussels. But easy money brought in too many more boats. |
Last half of 2013 to present on Biglake
Can the speckled trout fishing slowdown during 2013 trace back to the oyster over harvesting ?
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Bull reds were real skinny and growing slow, as were bull drum, like 80% of their normal weight. Most fish below 80% of expected weight at a given length do not survive. Gafftops were down too. Juvenile redfish were also fat and happy. Raping the oyster reefs hurts the more benthic feeders (gafftops, bull reds, drum) more than it hurts the juvenile redfish and the specks. With the closing of the pogey plant (Omega Protein), we're looking for there to be a lot more Gulf Menhaden around in 2014, so look for both specks and redfish to be fat and happy. Remember that population and body condition are a teter tot. A lot of skinny, hungry fish means they are easy to catch. Smaller numbers that are fat and harder to catch is actually a good thing, because they will be more likely to grow to trophy sizes and have higher fecundity rates. Trout are healthy and in balance in 2013. I am worried much more about the redfish and the drum. At 80% body condition, fecundity rates will be very low. |
Redfish population
MathGeek, with the ongoing increase in redfish population, do you feel that it affects the 80% theory ?
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A legitimate concern is that reseeding the west side would bring additional harvest pressure that would make the reseeding a net loss. Better to let natural reseeding from remaining west side oysters and from drift fro the east side and from Sabine contribute. This will yield less localized oyster bars that are not so easily located and destroyed. In the meantime, one hopes that local oystering infrastructure will be largely dismantled and that ongoing local pressure will be more commensurate with naturally occurring supply. Reseeding just keeps the local harvest pressure up and begins to engender an entitlement mentality as if the government has taken the ability to earn a living away from people if the cycle of seeding and raping is not maintained. Plans to build a saltwater barrier at Calcasieu pass make seeding and conservation of oysters in the estuary a temporary proposition at best. |
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Further, redfish do not have high levels of generational fidelity to one estuary (like seatrout), so a dip in body condition (and fecundity) in one estuary does not have the same impact. Also, the number of redfish eggs depends both on the population of mature females and the fecundity of each. Reduced average fecundity in one estuary is thus balanced by higher numbers of mature females and also by migration of eggs, larvae, and fish between estuaries. Redfish in other areas of Louisiana (Barataria, Terrebonne, Sabine) are not experiencing the same declines in body condition as the mature redfish in Calcasieu. |
Plans to build a saltwater barrier at Calcasieu pass make seeding and conservation of oysters in the estuary a temporary proposition at best.
MathGeek When is this likely to happen? I can't wait to go bass fishing in Turner's. |
Redfish population
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With numerous fishing reports of good catches, what are your thoughts of an estuary supporting x amount pounds of redfish similar to saying a freshwater lake supports a certain poundage of a particular species of fish ? |
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This is first I hear if this horse $&@; I would not be happy. Do you have a link ? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
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The situation is further complicated by the openness of the system. There's a much greater flux of fish through the Calcasieu pass (plus the intracoastal waterway) than most freshwater lakes see to and from feeder streams. It is obvious to all that Louisiana inshore waters are among the most productive in the world in terms of seafood production per unit area. Very few freshwater lakes come anywhere close. Choices about commercial and recreational harvest limits and management are mostly about resource partitioning. If tons and tons of shrimp are harvested, there will be less for the specks and juvenile redfish to eat. At some point in crab harvest numbers, there is less for the redfish and drum to eat. Harvesting all the pogeys probably had an impact higher in the food chain. However, most of the time, seafood production is highest at lower trophic levels, so if it is marketable, it makes economic sense to harvest 1000 lbs of shrimp even if it means producing 100 lbs less of spotted seatrout. Oysters are different, however. The oysters are not only consumed by one species (black drum), oyster reefs provide essential hard bottom habitat and vertical relief to a whole array of benthic organisms. These benthic organisms contribute to ecosystem production in many ways. Further, the living oysters provide a variety of ecosystem services including improving water quality by filtering, serving as nurseries for fish, and buffering anthropogenic inputs. While it is hard to know the actual biomass of a species in an estuary, it is easy to infer how much of the species are present relative to their food supply. If (on average) the fish are fat, the food supply could support additional fish, or the fish are underpopulated relative to the available food. If the fish are thin (on average), there are too many fish for the available food supply, which could mean an over abundance of fish or an under abundance of their preferred forage species. The attached graph shows the relative condition factor for redfish in Calcasieu, analyzed by length class from 2011 to 2013. The statewide average is 100% based on analysis of large statewide data set measured from 1995 to 1999. Clearly, the adult redfish are having trouble finding sufficient forage to maintain body condition. The juveniles (16"-20") are doing better, but 2013 was the first year since 2011 that they were above the statewide average. A 2000 study (Jenkins 2004) found most fish sampled in Calcasieu were above the statewide body condition at about 103%. |
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I think it's mainly from lack of menhaden and mullet. Once they get that big they mainly eat mullet poggie and crab. The little ones eat a lot of shrimp and small crab. 7-8 years ago I would see huge rafts of mullet in the lake. I don't see that too much any more. Occasionally but not like back in the day. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
All this oyster dredging and a dozen of Raw is $15 everywhere in lake charles. This blows my mind, I get a dozen for $5 in Baton Rouge. Anyone have any idea why prices are so steep in lake charles?
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Most oysters are harvested on the east side of the state. Less supply near LC.
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Where are you getting them for 5 a dozen?
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MG I thought gafftops primarily fed in the water column on live bait like trout do. Versus the hard heads that are bottom feeders and primarily eat dead. I know when I catch large gafftops it has been under a popping cork same as trout.
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I've read several papers analyzing stomach contents, and while fish and shrimp are important parts of their diet, gafftops feed mainly on the bottom. Zoobenthos, benthic crustaceans, and crabs (mostly blue, but all kinds) make up the bulk of their diet. They have pharygeal teeth at the back of their throats that allow them to crush crabs, and thin shelled molluscs, but they probably cannot crush oysters. Gafftops can definitely be fast and agile predators when they need to be, but their long barbels give away that they prefer to slowly cruise the bottom and eat the bottom critters that their barbels detect in their wide swath. |
5 dollars a dozen at chimes east on coursey during happy hour. Everywhere in LC is $15 a dozen and I give them hell about it every time. Therefore, I wait for my trips to BR to endulge.
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Check that out. Project ID 004.HR.06: "Salinity Control Structure in Calcasieu Ship Channel at Gulf of Mexico". This has been in the plans for a few years now. I do not believe they have set in stone when work will begin, but it is in the First Implementation Period (2012-2032). |
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This will never happen in our life time, Do you know how many make a living off that lake and estuary!! Never will get approved ...NEVER |
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So, there is a good chance that it WILL happen. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I847 using Tapatalk 2 |
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http://www.coastalmasterplan.louisia...ject-Lists.pdf |
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When it's time to put up the money, folks will make the case that it costs too much in terms of taxpayer money and negative economic impact. Future legislatures are never under any obligation to pay millions for hopes and intentions of past legislatures. Someone is also bound to ask whether a saltwater barrier of this size and scope (and cost) has ever been implemented before. Where? Was it completed on budget? Was it successful in its ecological goals? What was the economic impact? Did it have a negative impact on shipping? Did it have a negative impact on recreational uses? Did it have a negative impact on commercial fisheries? Once all the stakeholders have ample opportunity for input in a real funding and cost and risk analysis, it is unlikely to happen before 2032, unless someone can point to successful implementations in answer to the above questions. |
Like I said!! It will never ever happen in our lifetime!!
This is from people who have way way way more money and power than people in Baton Rouge!! I heard from one of the most powerful guys in Lake Charles and his words exact! As long as my family and my money runs up that ship channel, you will never see a saltwater locks no lower than prien lake I will take his word 100% everyday all day!! |
See, this is where knowledge of a situation is key. Anyone heard of the RESTORE Act? It allocates 80% of the penalties from the Deepwater Horizon Spill to coastal restoration in 5 states. So some of these projects will be funded, and those will most likely be the projects from the First Period.
So legislation no longer has a say in if money gets allocated to the Master Plan, because they will have to spend that money from the Oil Spill on restoration projects. And we aren't talking about a saltwater barrier like the one up the river either. There are other techniques that have been discussed. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I847 using Tapatalk 2 |
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Here is the deal I don't care whose money, who votes, what they need or do not need!! There will never be a saltwater lock on the ship channel south of Prein Lake!! NEVER IN OUR LIFETIME!! They will build up the land by dredging and lay rocks down the channel but never put a lock on the ship channel BOOKMARK THIS POST RIGHT HERE |
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I hope your right. I would put my $$ on NO also. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
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I guess we will just have to see. Very few of these projects are being implemented right now anyway. The money isn't there yet. Once that BP Suit is over, then some more of these will be able to get going.
For the record, I'm not really for or against the barrier. There's two sides to the argument. You've got economics on one side, and conservation on the other. Quite frankly, there is no saving SWLA from all the damage that has been done. It's just going to be the same old "Pump dredge spoil on the beach every X amount of years because its all slowly washing away every time" kind of thing forever. You've got very little sediment to naturally replenish the beaches, and you've got nothing really protecting the marshes. I've never thought CPRA's plan was very good. In fact, I think 95% of it is pretty damn stupid! They completely ignored most of the priority areas. The only marsh restoration they planned in pretty much the entire SWLA area was the area west of Rockefeller, which is owned by a very wealthy family. A good chunk of that money is being planned on levees around Lake Charles, Kaplan, Gueydan, and other coastal cities. It's pretty much a give up on SW-SCLA. "Let's just levee the cities and protect them, forget the rest". That is basically the motto of that Plan. Anyone that wants to do something good gets shot down if it isn't in one of their "Priority areas". |
Some of the projects are happening or have already happened, the Holly Beach project discussed on this site already is one of them
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I am assuming that this would be something along the line of the locks on the Panama Canal if it were to happen. That would suck on going offshore.
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I remember about a year or two ago hearing about a type of structure that was inflated or something, like a balloon or one of the barriers used in the oil spill (the name escapes me right now). Ships could still pass over it, but it would block much of the salt water. What's funny about this is there would be plenty of opposition to such a project if it actually comes to fruition, but yet the public already had a chance to comment on these projects. There were quite a few projects that were modified after the comment period too. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I847 using Tapatalk 2 |
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