The Fisheries Research Lab took roughly ten years to plan and build but has greatly increased the scope of LDWF and its programs benefit every angler and visitor in the state. Through cooperation with federal programs and by increasing the state’s initiatives, the lab monitors the health of Louisiana’s diverse ecosystems, and records vast amounts of data on many facets of the environment.
It then can make educated recommendations to managers of how best to preserve the abundance of fish and creatures while maximizing access to the fishermen who work, live or visit the state.
The facility is key to the future to fisheries monitoring. Various methods are employed to sample offshore waters, and a standard protocol is followed so that the data of other Gulf States can be compared to Louisiana. The ultimate goal is to harvest as many fish in a year without causing decline to next year’s crop, so to speak. Sampling is the key to monitoring the effectiveness of management policies throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Working together, the Gulf States monitor the entire Gulf with the oversight of the Federal programs in place.
The entire food web is sampled, from plankton to pelagic predators because they are all interwoven as one system. Age and growth studies are underway and databases are filling up with vital statistics. The bottom line is that the more accurate the data, the more confident managers can be when setting generous limits for fishermen.
Tagging plays an important role in trout, redfish, tuna and tarpon studies, and the LDWF encourages the participation of anglers to tag as many saltwater fish as they can.
