SHRIMP SEASON TO CLOSE IN ADDITIONAL PORTIONS OF ZONE 1 AND ALL OF ZONE 3

Release Date: 07/07/2009

The 2009 spring inshore shrimp season in additional portions of Shrimp Management Zone 1 and all of Zone 3 will close on Saturday, July 11, 2009 at 6 a.m.  Effective with this closure all state inside waters will be closed to shrimping except for the following portions of Zone 1 which will remain open until further notice:

-- That portion of Mississippi Sound beginning at a point on the Louisiana-Mississippi Lateral Boundary at latitude 30 degrees 09 minutes 39.6 seconds north and longitude 89 degrees 30 minutes 00.0 seconds west; thence due south to a point at latitude 30 degrees 05 minutes 00.0 seconds north and longitude 89 degrees 30 minutes 00.0 seconds west; thence southeasterly to a point on the western shore of Three-Mile Pass at latitude 30 degrees 03 minutes 00.0 seconds north and longitude 89 degrees 22 minutes 23.0 seconds west; thence northeasterly to a point on Isle Au Pitre at latitude 30 degrees 09 minutes 20.5 seconds north and longitude 89 degrees 11 minutes 15.5 seconds west, which is a point on the double-rig line as described in LA R.S. 56:495.1(A)2; thence northerly along the double-rig line to a point on the Louisiana-Mississippi Lateral Boundary at latitude 30 degrees 12 minutes 37.9056 seconds north and longitude 89 degrees 10 minutes 57.9725 seconds west; thence westerly along the Louisiana-Mississippi Lateral Boundary to the point of beginning

--The open waters of Breton and Chandeleur Sounds as described by the double-rig line.

State territorial waters seaward of the Inside/Outside shrimp line, as described in Louisiana R.S.56:495, will also remain open to shrimping.
 
Zone 1 includes state waters from the Mississippi/Louisiana state line to the eastern shore of South Pass of the Mississippi River.  Zone 3 includes state waters from the western shore of Vermilion Bay and Southwest Pass at Marsh Island to the Louisiana/Texas state line.

The closure was announced today by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham and was based on recommendations made by LDWF Office of Fisheries biologists.

The number, distribution and percentage of small juvenile white shrimp within the areas to be closed have progressively increased in recent weeks and these waters are being closed to protect these developing shrimp. 

For more information, contact Martin Bourgeois at 225-765-2401 or mbourgeois@wlf.la.gov.
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