Despite interference from hurricanes and oil spills in the past, Louisiana’s fisheries have produced a great deliverance of product during recent years.
Though some of the 2014 catch has been recorded as below pre-BP spill averages, more money was collected at the docks for shrimp, crabs and oysters last year than almost any time in recent history.
This gives a bright outlook for the future of Louisiana’s fisheries in spite of any problems coastal erosion and mineral production may have caused. And with new techniques coming into play, such as floating beds that are expected to even increase the high production of oysters, things could get even better.
State fisheries experts maintain producers need to seek higher quality seafood to bring higher market prices than imports.
And this, to a certain extent, has been accomplished. Our products are meeting with great favor in almost every locale where they are consumed. And it appears the demand for them is growing every day.
A lot of Louisiana’s crab production now goes to the mid-Atlantic area – Chesapeake Bay, Maryland and Virginia – which used to be the center of crab production. That area has seen major decline and Louisiana products are taking their place.
There are many questions as to why Louisiana’s seafood production continues to flourish along with the oil spill and erosion problems.
It is said that perhaps the erosion has helped somewhat in producing more submerged vegetation that grows in patches where wetlands are lost. That may be a growing ground for juvenile crabs.
Of course, we don’t want to substitute erosion with submerged vegetation for lost wetlands.
We need to maintain steady growth and seafood production along with halting the spread of erosion in our state wetlands.
At any rate, fear not, Louisianians, that our seafood production is going to pot. It is in one of its healthiest stages now, after BP, erosion and other matters that many worried would be dangerous to our inshore and offshore seafood industries. We are still a leader in shrimp, oyster and crab production.
And from appearances, we will continue to be the country’s leader in top rated seafood products.
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