The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) will not host its annual Derelict Crab Trap Rodeo volunteer cleanup event in 2021. These events have taken place across coastal Louisiana since 2004, but concerns from increasing COVID-19 cases have led to the decision to cancel the event.
The scheduled closures within the Derelict Crab Trap Removal Program will remain in place. Derelict traps from within the defined closure areas will still be collected by LDWF staff and/or contractors. This allows the program to continue reducing hazards caused by derelict crab traps, reduce user-group conflict, increase the blue crab population by eliminating competition caused by derelict or abandoned crab traps, and enhancing the beauty of coastal Louisiana.
Scheduled Closure Areas
The LWFC adopted a Notice of Intent (NOI) in August 2020, allowing the removal of derelict crab traps along Louisiana’s coast in 2021 from the four following described areas:
- The first closure will occur in the Pontchartrain Basin, in an area west of Delacroix to the Mississippi River, from 12:00 a.m. Monday, February 1, 2021, through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, February 14, 2021.
- The second closure will occur in the Terrebonne Basin, in an area west of Bayou Lafourche, from 12:00 a.m. Monday, February 1, 2021, through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, February 14, 2021.
- The third closure will occur in the Vermilion Basin, in an area in East Cote Blanche Bay, from 12:00 a.m. Monday, February 1, 2021, through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, February 14, 2021.
- The fourth closure will occur in the Pontchartrain Basin, in an area east of Delacroix to the MRGO, from 12:00 a.m. Monday, February 22, 2021, through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, March 7, 2021.
Things to Remember
These proposed trap removal regulations do not provide authorization for access to private property. Only individual landowners may provide permission to access their private property.
Crab traps may only be removed between one half-hour before sunrise to one half-hour after sunset. Only LDWF, or those designated by LDWF, will be authorized to remove derelict crab traps in the closure areas. Abandoned traps must be brought to LDWF designated disposal sites and may not be taken from the closed area.
For more information on the Derelict Crab Trap Removal Program, go to https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/derelict-crab-trap-removal, or contact Peyton Cagle at 337-491-2575 or pcagle@wlf.la.gov.
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