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Coding: Words which are struck through are deletions from existing law;
words in boldface type and underscored are additions.
Regular Session, 2011 ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 157
BY SENATOR MORRELL
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) and the Louisiana
Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) to conduct a study on the lack of
shrimp growth in the Barataria Basin.
WHEREAS, varied oceanic research indicates that shrimp growth is not correlated
with variations in water quality and water levels; and
WHEREAS, shrimp spawn offshore at depths usually exceeding eighteen meters and
generally spawn in the spring and summer when waterbottom temperatures are between
seventeen and twenty-nine degrees celsius, and generally cease spawning when water
temperatures begin to decline in the fall; and
WHEREAS, growth rates of shrimp may vary considerably due to the difference in
water temperature, salinity, and food availability; and
WHEREAS, the Barataria Basin is an irregularly shaped area bounded on each side
by a distributary ridge formed by the present and former channel of the Mississippi River
and a chain of barrier islands which separates the basin from the Gulf of Mexico; and
WHEREAS, freshwater and sediment input to the Barataria Basin were virtually
eliminated by the erection of flood protection levees along the Mississippi River and the
closure of Bayou Lafourche at Donaldsonville, thereby making rainfall the only significant
source of freshwater for the basin; and
WHEREAS, in continual efforts to manage the varied fish zones, the LDWF opened
the Terrebonne Basin shrimp season on May 10, 2011, and on May 16, 2011, the LDWF
opened the Barataria Basin shrimp season; and
WHEREAS, the LDWF acknowledges that shrimp do not grow at the same rate and
will often stagger shrimp seasons in order to accommodate for growth rate, distribution and
abundance; and
WHEREAS, LUMCON was formed in 1979 to coordinate and stimulate Louisiana's
activities in marine research and education; and SR NO. 157 ENROLLED
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Coding: Words which are struck through are deletions from existing law;
words in boldface type and underscored are additions.
WHEREAS, LUMCON provides coastal laboratory facilities to Louisiana
universities, and conducts research and educational programs in the marine sciences; and
WHEREAS, the location of the LUMCON marine center on the upper end of
Terrebonne Bay and its proximity to the Mississippi River delta, large estuaries, and
expansive coastal wetlands, make it an ideal venue for the study of coastal Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, the Barataria Basin is historically known for the successful proliferation
of shrimp; and
WHEREAS, adverse temperatures or salinity may have reduced shrimp survival and
growth, but also an unseasonably late cold front in May 2011, where water temperatures and
tides dropped dramatically, cause shrimp to leave prematurely; and
WHEREAS, along with the low temperatures and salinity modifications, there were
also Mississippi River flood waters which run adjacent to the Barataria Basin; and
WHEREAS, after the shrimp season opened in May 2011, it soon became evident
that the shrimp from Barataria Basin were unusually small and considered to be nearly
unmarketable compared to the catches from the Terrebonne Basin.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby urge and request the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Louisiana
Universities Marine Consortium to conduct a study on the lack of shrimp growth in the
Barataria Basin.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE