The 2010 Louisiana shrimp season will open as follows:





· Shrimp Management Zone 2 beginning at the eastern shore of Bayou Grand Caillou westward to the western shore of Vermilion Bay and Southwest Pass at Marsh Island to open at 6 AM, May 10, 2010.





· Portions of the Calcasieu ship channel and the Sabine River ship channel within Zone 3 shall open at 6 AM, May 10, 2010





· The remaining portion of Shrimp Management Zone 3 will open at 6 AM, May 31, 2010





The Commission also granted authority to the LDWF secretary to open the spring shrimp season both inside and outside state waters within Shrimp Management Zone 1 when the current LDWF precautionary fisheries closure within these waters is suspended.





The Commission gave Barham authority to delay the opening of the 2010 spring inshore shrimp season if biological and technical data indicate the presence of significant numbers of small-sized brown shrimp. It also gave authority to close any portion of Louisiana's inside waters to protect small white shrimp if biological and technical data indicate the need to do so, or enforcement problems develop.





LDWF management recommendations for spring inshore opening dates utilize criteria which project the date when a minimum of 50 percent of the inshore brown shrimp population sampled reach sizes of 100 count (per pound) or larger. Last year, Louisiana shrimp landings totaled 110.3 million pounds (all species combined/heads-on weight) and were valued at $113 million dockside.







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