The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announced the commercial fishing season for Non-Sandbar Large Coastal Sharks will open in Louisiana waters at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2018. Federal waters will also open in the Gulf of Mexico at this time.

The commercial and recreational season for the harvest of all sharks in Louisiana state waters will be closed from 12:01 a.m. on April 1, 2018, until 12:01 p.m. on July 1, 2018, per an existing fixed seasonal closure to protect shark pupping. The commercial season will remain open in Federal waters until 80 percent of the federal quota for a given fishery has been harvested or is projected to be harvested in the Gulf of Mexico.

During the open season, commercial harvest of Non-Sandbar Large Coastal Sharks and Pelagic Sharks are regulated by the existing federal and state rules regarding trip limits, allowable species, and requirements for permits and landings as laid out in federal and state regulations.

The Non-Sandbar Large Coastal Shark group is composed of the great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead, smooth hammerhead, nurse shark, blacktip shark, bull shark, lemon shark, silky shark, spinner shark, and tiger shark. While sandbar shark are a member of the Large Coastal Shark group, only specifically designated federally permitted vessels may take sandbar shark while operating under conditions of that research permit.

Commercial fishing for Small Coastal Sharks will also resume in Louisiana waters on January 1 through December 31, 2018, or until 80 percent of the federal quota has been met. The commercial Small Coastal Shark fishery consists of bonnethead shark, Atlantic sharpnose shark, blacknose shark and finetooth shark. Blacknose sharks, though part of the Small Coastal Shark group, are managed under a separate quota that is linked to the overall Small Coastal Shark quota. The Small Coastal Group fishery remained open for all of 2017.

There is no allowable harvest at any time for all Prohibited Species, which include basking shark, white shark, bigeye sand tiger, sand tiger, whale shark, smalltooth sawfish, largetooth sawfish, Atlantic angel shark, Caribbean sharpnose shark, smalltail shark, bignose shark, Caribbean reef shark, dusky shark, Galapagos shark, narrowtooth shark, night shark, bigeye sixgill shark, bigeye thresher shark, longfin mako, sevengill shark and sixgill shark.

For more information, contact Jason Adriance at (504) 284-2032 or [email protected].

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is charged with managing and protecting Louisiana’s abundant natural resources. For more information, visit us atwww.wlf.la.gov. To receive email alerts, signup at http://www.wlf.la.gov/signup