According to LDWF all the commercial and recreational fishing in an area south of Port Sulphur in Plaquemines Parish are closed due to the discovery of tilapia in public waterways in the vicinity. LDWF Secretary Robert Barham said that the decision was taken after the authorization of the Administrative Procedure Act. The closure includes both public and private waters bounded on the north by St. Jude Road, on the east by the Mississippi River main levee, on the south by Milan Drive and on the west by the back levee of the drainage ditch.
Tilapia, a fish native to Africa, are exotic species capable of displacing native fish and are currently prohibited from being possessed in Louisiana except under extremely restrictive permits issued to tilapia producers. It appears the tilapias are currently confined to an area that can be treated, Barham said. He also added that is allowed to spread, tilapia could result in drastic environmental, recreational and economical impacts, and fishermen, both commercial and recreational, could be pathways that spread tilapia into other Louisiana waters.
It is told that the LDWF Office of Fisheries will lead a staged application of the fish toxicant rotenone during the closure. This is done in an effort to eradicate the tilapia that exists in affected waterways.
