OYSTER MANAGEMENT AND REHABILITATION

STRATEGIC PLAN

June, 2020

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Challenges Facing Oysters

• Oyster resources at all-time lows on public oyster areas• Reduced resource availability leads to:

• Decreased opportunities for all fishery participants (fishermen, dealers, processors, etc.)

• Decreased seed oysters for transplant to oyster leases• Decreased ecosystem services provided by healthy oyster reefs

• Changing environmental conditions making oyster survival difficult in some areas where oyster productivity was traditionally high

• Changing conditions are leading to spatial conflicts between oyster industry interests and other users of the coastal zone

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Overall Needs

• Increase harvestable oyster resources on public grounds• Increase oyster resiliency in coastal zone to help resource bounce back

from environmental and man-made perturbations• Decrease spatial conflict between oyster industry and other coastal

zone user groups• Develop full accountability and record-keeping on lease-by-lease basis• Provide the oyster industry with meaningful options for adapting to

coastal changes• Adequately document hydrologic changes, especially salinity, occurring

in the coastal zone• Restore conducive hydrologic conditions, where feasible

Total Funding Need

$132 millionDRAFT

Management and Rehabilitation Strategic

Initiatives

1. Traditional Cultch Planting and Water-Bottom Mapping ($13.6 million)2. Cultch Planting with Remote-Set Oysters ($12 million)3. Development of Spawning Stock Sanctuary Network ($13.8 million)4. Expansion of Alternative Oyster Aquaculture ($10 million)5. Private Oyster Lease Rehabilitation (POLR) Program ($12 million)6. Expansion of Hydrologic Monitoring ($5 million)7. Non-Renewal of Unproductive Oyster Leases ($5 million)8. Establishment of Cultivation and Production Requirements on Leases

($5 million)9. Establishment of New Public Oyster Areas ($5 million) 10. Mississippi River Gulf Outlet Hydrologic Restoration (MRGO) ($1.6

million)11. Restoration of the Bohemia Spillway water control structure ($24.3

million)12. Research and Development ($25 million)

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Traditional Cultch Planting and Mapping

• Funding need: $13.6 million• Locations: Public oyster seed grounds• Placement of clean, hard substrate on water bottoms in areas of

conducive water salinity• Method utilized by LDWF since 1917 to increase oyster production on

the public oyster seed grounds• Water bottom mapping will greatly assist in locating suitable water

bottoms (firmness)

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Cultch Planting With Remote-Set Oysters

• Funding need: $12.0 million• Location: Public oyster seed

grounds• Following placement of

traditional cultch material, overlay the new reef with additional cultch material which was pre-set with live oyster spat (baby oysters)

• May provide a “jump-start” to Mother Nature so that oyster production is not reliant on a successful, natural spat-set

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Spawning Stock Sanctuary Network

• Funding need: $13.8 million• Location: Public oyster seed grounds• Non-harvestable reefs to serve as

“brood-stock sanctuary”• Spawning oysters on these reefs will

provide oyster larvae to the general area, which will serve to re-seed harvestable reefs

• Could be constructed utilizing spat-on-shell from hatchery operations

• Will also provide recreational angler fishing opportunities

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Expansion of Alternative Oyster Aquaculture

• Funding need: $10 million• Location: TBD, but likely in the Cocodrie and Cameron areas• Off-bottom oyster cultivation using floating cages or bags• Provide seed-production grants to help expand seed availability to

existing AOC operations• Funding to help off-set expenditures related to purchasing equipment

and modifying vessels• Funding also to help develop additional aquaculture parks, similar to

the one in Grand Isle

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Private Oyster Lease Rehabilitation Program

(POLR Program)

• Funding need: $12 million• Location: Private oyster leases throughout coastal Louisiana• Reimburse oyster lease holders for a portion of expenses related to

rehabilitation activities on leased water bottoms• Modeled after a successful program operated in the wakes of

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita• Rehabilitation activities would focus on planting cultch and depositing

hatchery-raised spat-on-shell onto leases

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Expansion of Hydrologic Monitoring

• Funding need: $5 million• Locations: Throughout coastal

Louisiana• Establishment of additional Data

Collection Platforms (DCPs) that continuously monitor hydrologic parameters (e.g. salinity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, etc.).

• Particular areas of the coast in need of monitoring stations include Mississippi Sound, Lake Borgne, SE & SW Barataria Bay, etc.

• Automated, real-time data collected and made available online for use by oystermen, resource managers, and the general public

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Non-Renewal of Unproductive Oyster Leases

• Funding need: $5 million• Location: Throughout coastal Louisiana• In an effort to reduce conflicts over the need for physical space in the

coastal zone, unproductive oyster leases will be non-renewed, when feasible

• Funding will be utilized to cover potential costs associated with administrative reviews of relevant information/data, water bottom evaluation, and/or possible oyster lease appraisals by qualified contractors

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Establishment of Cultivation and Production

Requirements For Leases

• Funding need: $5 million• Location: Administrative, but would be required by leaseholders for

leases throughout the coastal zone• Funding would be utilized to redesign and produce trip-tickets capable

of capturing lease identification information as part of oyster harvest record-keeping, or develop electronic reporting system to be utilized by industry

• Educational materials will also need to be developed for both fishermen and dealers in order to teach them about how to complete the new trip-ticket form

• Additional procedures and forms will need to be developed to capture cultivation activities that do not include direct harvest (e.g. seeding, clutching, etc.)

• Administratively, LDWF will need to manage such a program and would likely be similar to the Harvest Area Grid (HAG) program implemented for three years in the early 2000s

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Development of New Public Oyster Areas

• Funding need: $5 million• Location: Unleased state water bottoms throughout coastal Louisiana• Environmental and man-made changes to the coastal zone have

decreased productivity of some existing public oyster areas• The state will adapt to changing conditions by developing new public

oyster areas in sections of the coast more conducive to oyster production

• Funding will be used for data analysis of current and expected hydrologic conditions and site evaluation to determine water bottom firmness, presences of existing reefs, and user-group conflicts

• Potential areas include SW Barataria basin and lower Terrebonne/Timbalier basin

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Research and Development

• Funding need: $25 million• Location: Louisiana academic research institutions • Attempt to develop genetic strains of oysters that are able to

withstand prolonged periods of low salinity• Develop guidance document to help appropriately site various

initiatives of the strategic plan (e.g. new public seed grounds, etc.)• Data-mining from existing sources for analysis• Prediction of future environmental conditions across the coast to

guide investments in strategic plan initiatives

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Additional Initiatives

• Mississippi River Gulf Outlet Hydrologic Restoration (MRGO)• Funding need: $1.6 million• Location: St. Bernard Parish• Re-establish hydrologic connectivity between lower Lake Borgne

and southeastern St. Bernard Marshes• Evaluate the ability to “re-open” the MRGO rock structure for

water flow and vessel passage• Very difficult to accomplish due to variety of challenges

• Restoration of the Bohemia Spillway water control structure• Funding need: $24.3 million• Location: East bank of MS River; Plaquemines Parish• Rehabilitation of the water control structure at Mardi Gras Pass

to bring the pass back under control• May help to reduce freshwater inputs into the Black Bay and

Breton Sound areas, leading to increases in salinity and possibly increasing oyster production

• Very difficult to accomplish due to large cost, political push-back, and lack of assurance that such a project would improve oyster productivity

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Funding Sources

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Funding commitments currently in place to implement initiatives of the Oyster Strategic Plan over the next five years

Funding Source Funding Level

LDWF - Seed Ground Development Account $3,000,000

LDWF - Artificial Reef Fund $3,000,000

NOAA - 2019 Federal Fisheries Disaster $10,000,000

DWH - Louisiana Oyster Trustee Implementation Group (TIG) $26,000,000

CPRA/NFWF - Hydrologic Pre-Monitoring of Breton Sound Sediment Diversion $2,000,000

DWH - Adaptive Management TIG $15,000,000

Total $59,000,000

Potential future funding sources to assist with implementing the initiatives of the Oyster Strategic Plan over the next five years

Funding Source Funding Level

DWH - Region-wide Trustee Implementation Group (TIG) $43,000,000

DWH - Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats TIG $30,000,000

Total $73,000,000

Summary

• Oyster production on public areas at historical lows• Oyster industry needs options and assistance to help maintain

sustainability and stability• LDWF must also develop additional public oyster resources to assist

with industry needs and ecosystem services• Twelve initiatives have been identified to assist with management and

rehabilitation of the oyster fishery• TOTAL FUNDING NEED: $132 million (Approx. $59M committed)• Potential funding sources

1. LDWF Public Oyster Seed Ground Development Account2. LDWF Artificial Reef Fund3. Federal Fisheries Disaster Funds4. Oil Spill Restoration (DWH NRD) Funds5. CPRA/NFWF Funds

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