2021 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 105
BY SENATOR LAMBERT
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request the Crab Task Force and the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, with input
from 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.
WHEREAS, the Crab Task Force is created in R.S. 56:331 and charged with advising
on matters pertaining to the management and development of the crab industry; and
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force is created in R.S. 56:494 and charged
with various duties including representing the interests of the Louisiana shrimp industry
before federal and state administrative and legislative bodies on issues of importance to the
Louisiana shrimp industry; and
WHEREAS, damaged crab traps and derelict crab traps, which are estimated to be
in the thousands in Lake Pontchartrain, are a hazard to navigation, a source of habitat
degradation, and a nuisance; and
WHEREAS, crab traps and derelict crab traps become tangled in shrimpers' nets, and
can damage the nets as well as boat propellers, particularly when the traps are cut from their
float lines; and
WHEREAS, crab traps are often dragged for miles from their original location by
shrimp boats and are either destroyed or never found by their owners; and
WHEREAS, these traps, once lost by the owner become derelict and continue to fish
by attracting and trapping more fish and crabs to feed upon the creatures ensnared in them;
and
WHEREAS, lost crab traps are a great expense to the crabber and the destruction and
loss of these traps create conflict between shrimpers and crab fisherman; and
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WHEREAS, both the crab industry, currently losing costly traps, and the revenue
from the lost catch, and the shrimp industry, with damaged vessels and nets, would benefit
from reducing the alarming number of crab traps that become lost, damaged, or derelict in
Lake Pontchartrain.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby urge and request the Crab Task Force and the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force,
with input from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, to study ways to minimize
damage to crab traps and the return of 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.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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