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April 11, 2018
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April 11, 2018
A blessing of boats in Chauvin Sunday marked the continuation of a sacred tradition in the Bayou Region, as anticipation grows for word that the fleets of various communities can move out onto the water and lower their nets.
If preliminary estimates continue on their course, that could happen sooner than later. Biologists for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries reported at a meeting last week that early tests show the potential for a sizeable crop this year.
But the good news was also tempered with caution. Various conditions, most weather related, could make for a change in the predictions, and push the start of the spring shrimp season farther back in the calendar.
LDWF biologist Peyton Cagle told members of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission that shrimp sampled thus far show enough development for a promising season. It is still too early to tell, officials agreed, when that should occur.
But Cagle did say that if the trend biologists are seeing continues, there is a potential that commissioners may be called upon to decide a brown shrimp season opening far sooner than is normal.
The biologists coul ask the commission’s chairman to discuss with the LDWF secretary a special meeting to authorize a late-April opening.
Last year some fishermen complained that a May 8 opening had allowed brown shrimp to escape into the Gulf before their nets could catch them. Some scientists have suggested that warmer temperatures resulting from slow climate shifts could be resulting in more mature shrimp earlier in the calendar.
But temperature is only one element that has an impact on shrimp growth.
Salinity is another big factor. A heavy rain within the next week or two could retard shrimp growth; Since the last samples were taken two fronts have passed through Louisiana, adding fresh water to the system and churning up waters.
The shrimp are ready for harvest, according to state regulations, when projections from samples indicate that half the available crop numbers 100 shrimp to the pound of less.
“The shrimp season looks promising so far,” said commission chairman Bobby Samanie. “We are cautiously optimistic, but there are many factors that could change it.”
Meanwhile fishermen are preparing their boats, and some have already taken advantage of a limited opening in certain specified areas where enough over-wintering white shrimp remained, giving them a head start.
More prayers over more boats will be be had over the next several weeks, for a bountiful crop and that equipment fishermen use will be in good repair, as well as overall safety for everyone at sea and in the bayous and lakes.
At 10:15 Sunday Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church in Golden Meadow will present its annual blessing and boat parade, with a festival on the church grounds. The following Sunday Dulac boats will be blessed, with a procession to begin at 1 p.m. following a special mass for fishermen at Holy Family Church.
In Dularge St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church oversees a blessing and procession beginning 1 p.m. April 29, with a crawfish boil to follow. The Very Rev. Morris Thompson, Louisiana’s Episcopal bishop, will officiate.
On the same day St. Charles Borromeo Church in Pointe-aux-Chenes holds a fishermen’s mass at 1 p.m. followed by a procession and blessing at 1:30 p.m.
