SLS 21RS-2016 ORIGINAL
2021 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 105
BY SENATOR LAMBERT
FISH/FISHING. Requests the Crab Task Force and the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, in
cooperation with the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, to study and make
recommendations to reduce damage to crab traps and the number of derelict crab traps in
Lake Pontchartrain.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To urge and request the Crab Task Force and the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, with input
3 from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, to study and make recommendations
4 to reduce damage to crab traps and the number of derelict crab traps in Lake
5 Pontchartrain.
6 WHEREAS, the Crab Task Force is created in R.S. 56:331 and charged with advising
7 on matters pertaining to the management and development of the crab industry; and
8 WHEREAS, the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force is created in R.S. 56:494 and charged
9 with various duties including representing the interests of the Louisiana shrimp industry
10 before federal and state administrative and legislative bodies on issues of importance to the
11 Louisiana shrimp industry; and
12 WHEREAS, damaged crab traps and derelict crab traps, which are estimated to be
13 in the thousands in Lake Pontchartrain, are a hazard to navigation, a source of habitat
14 degradation, and a nuisance; and
15 WHEREAS, crab traps and derelict crab traps become tangled in shrimpers' nets, and
16 can damage the nets as well as boat propellers, particularly when the traps are cut from their
17 float lines; and
18 WHEREAS, crab traps are often dragged for miles from their original location by
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SLS 21RS-2016 ORIGINAL
1 shrimp boats and are either destroyed or never found by their owners; and
2 WHEREAS, these traps, once lost by the owner become derelict and continue to fish
3 by attracting and trapping more fish and crabs to feed upon the creatures ensnared in them;
4 and
5 WHEREAS, lost crab traps are a great expense to the crabber and the destruction and
6 loss of these traps create conflict between shrimpers and crab fisherman; and
7 WHEREAS, both the crab industry, currently losing costly traps, and the revenue
8 from the lost catch, and the shrimp industry, with damaged vessels and nets, would benefit
9 from reducing the alarming number of crab traps that become lost, damaged, or derelict in
10 Lake Pontchartrain.
11 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
12 does hereby urge and request the Crab Task Force and the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force,
13 with input from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, to study ways to minimize
14 damage to crab traps and the return of crab traps to crab fishermen in order to reduce derelict
15 crab traps in Lake Pontchartrain, and report any recommendations to the Senate Committee
16 on Natural Resources on or before February 4, 2022.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Tyler S. McCloud.
DIGEST
SR 105 Original 2021 Regular Session Lambert
Requests the Crab Task Force and the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, with input from the
Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries, to study ways to minimize damage to crab traps, return crab
traps to crab fishermen in order to reduce derelict crab traps in Lake Pontchartrain and report
any recommendations to the Senate Committee on Natural Resources on or before
February 4, 2022.
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