BATON ROUGE (AP) — The commercial fishing season for non-sandbar large coastal sharks will open in Louisiana waters at 12:01 a.m. on Feb. 1.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico will also open at that time. The commercial season will remain open in federal waters until 80 percent of the federal quota has been harvested or is projected to be harvested in the Gulf.
The commercial and recreational season for the harvest of all sharks in Louisiana state waters will be closed from 12:01 a.m. on April 1 until 12:01 a.m. on July 1, per an existing fixed seasonal closure to protect shark pupping.
During the open season, there is a daily bag limit of 45 sharks per commercial licensed angler. The large coastal shark group consists of the great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead, smooth hammerhead, nurse shark, blacktip shark, bull shark, lemon shark, silky shark, spinner shark, and tiger shark
While sandbar shark are a member of the large coastal shark group, only specifically designated federally permitted vessels may take sandbar shark while operating under conditions of that research permit.
Commercial fishing for small coastal sharks resumed in Louisiana waters on Jan. 1, and will continue through Dec. 31 or until 80 percent of the federal quota has been met. The small coastal shark fishery consists of the blacknose and non-blacknose small coastal sharks as well as bonnethead shark, Atlantic sharpnose shark and finetooth shark.
