All state inshore waters will open to shrimping at 6 a.m. May 23 based on information provided by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologists and public comments.
Inshore waters range from the shore to 3 miles into the Gulf of Mexico.
The Houma Courier reports portions of outside waters were opened in April with the rest of the state outside waters from Atchafalaya River Ship Channel to the western shore of Freshwater Bayou also opening on May 23.
LDWF provided projections of the dates when a minimum of 50% of the inshore brown shrimp population sampled reach sizes of 100 count per pound or larger.
LDWF biologist Jeff Marx says that while he doesn’t have the data to make predictions on how the upcoming season will unfold, he can show parallels to previous years, which draws the conclusion that this year’s season has the characteristics of the 2015 season which was also a hot year.
Marx says small, 2,000-count shrimp aren’t being seen in the basins at the moment.
“It’s a good spread, but things change. If we get a big influx of small shrimp, it changes things. There’s a big difference between a cold year (like 2014 when the season began in June) and what’s going on this year,” he says.
Two things worth keeping an eye on are the “huge discharge” of water from the Mississippi River in the early parts of the year and the salinity levels.
“You do have lower salinities this year, especially in the Barataria area. If it’s 10 parts per 1,000 or above, you get good growth of shrimp. If it’s below, it’ll be slowed. This year from January down, it’s been eight parts per 1,000 or below,” Marx says.
