The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) announced dates for public meetings to be held on spotted seatrout 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 Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission (LWFC) indicated it would like to hear public input before considering management changes.  No action is being taken at this time, however input is being gathered prior to any potential rule 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. 

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, and combined slot limit and creel changes.

Below is a list of meeting dates and locations. All meetings will now begin at 6:00 pm, except the meeting in Ruston, which remains at 1pm.  The change is being made based upon comments received regarding the original meeting start time in order to address concerns about getting to locations in populated areas by 5pm. 

LDWF has also changed the location of the Lake Charles meeting to the Calcasieu Parish Extension Office at 7101 Gulf Highway, Lake Charles, La.

A full list of meetings is below:

• Monday, February 10, 2020 – North Branch Library, 4130 West Park Ave, Gray, La
• Wednesday, February 12, 2020 – LDWF HQ, Herring Room, 2000 Quail Drive, Baton Rouge, La
• Thursday, February 13, 2020 – Lafayette Council Chambers, 705 West University Avenue, Lafayette, La
• Wednesday, February 19, 2020 – East Bank Regional Library, 4747 West Napoleon Avenue, Metairie, La
• Thursday, February 20, 2020 – Slidell Municipal Auditorium, 2056 Second Street, Slidell, La
• Wednesday, February 26, 2020 –  Calcasieu Parish Extension Office, 7101 Gulf Highway, Lake Charles, La
• Thursday, February 27, 2020 – Rapides Parish Extension Office, 300 Grady Britt Drive, Alexandria, La
• Saturday, February 29, 2020 – Lincoln Parish Library, 910 North Trenton Street, Ruston, La

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   [email protected]