A former congressman from Napoleonville is looking to give concerned fishermen a bigger voice in coastal restoration decisions that could impact the landscape of Louisiana’s fisheries.
Charlie Melancon, the former president of the American Sugar Cane League and three-term Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, was named secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in December by Gov. John Bel Edwards.
As The Daily Comet reports, Melancon spent his first two months acclimating himself to the job and meeting with industry stakeholders, including commercial, charter and sports fishermen and hunters. His department, like so many others, is facing fiscal issues.
As lawmakers search for solutions to fill an estimated $850 million to $950 million midyear budget crisis, Wildlife and Fisheries has been asked to cut approximately $650,000 of its own budget. Legislators will face an even steeper fiscal mountain in the regular session, with an estimated $2 billion deficit for the next fiscal year. How that will affect Melancon’s department isn’t yet clear.
To deal with the immediate cuts, Melancon says the department is evaluating contracts, temporary workers and positions left open by recently retired employees.
“We’re looking at our spending overall … to see if there’s any places that we can trim down and get leaner,” he says.
Fishermen are telling Melancon that they’re feeling left out of coastal discussions, namely diversions, that could impact coastal fisheries and their livelihoods. The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority approved diversions along the Mississippi River last year and are a key focus in Chairman Johnny Bradberry’s plans.
Melancon says he and Bradberry have a good working relationship dating back to when Melancon was in Washington, D.C., and Bradberry was with the state Department of Transportation and Development.
“Their mission is to rebuild the marsh, rebuild land. Our mission is to preserve the species, be it fish or wildlife. Some of the problems, (Bradberry) and I believe, were because the two departments were butting heads rather than interacting,” Melancon says. “It’s a long term process. You have to quantify what that structure will do to oyster fisheries, to the shrimp fisheries, to the wildlife that inhabit those areas.”
