House committee backs three-quarter-mile buffer for vessel live-bait sales

BATON ROUGE, La. — The House Natural Resources and Environment Committee on Tuesday recommended that the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) add a three-quarter-mile buffer around established bait shops when it implements a rule to allow sales of live bait from vessels during the closed season.

LDWF staff told the committee the proposed notice of intent (NOI) would expand access for recreational anglers by allowing vessel sales under the department's special bait dealers permit, but that the permit would remain tied to a brick-and-mortar facility to avoid undercutting land-based shops. "The primary purpose of the NOI was to increase the mechanisms and outlets by which recreational fishermen can purchase live bait," Ryan Montague, assistant secretary for LDWF, said during the hearing.

The committee heard competing views at the oversight session on Oct. 28. Commercial and live-bait fishermen said vessel sales could be useful during peak season but warned that overly large buffers would make small operators commercially unviable. "Putting me 35 football fields away from the island is''gonna kill my business," Clay Boudreau, owner of Bayou Log Cabins LLC, told the committee, arguing that a two-mile buffer would force him into open Barataria Bay and out of customers' paths. By contrast, commercial fisherman Michael Guidry said he opposed the rule change and emphasized enforcement controls such as vessel monitoring and trip-ticket reporting. "We never run out of bait," Guidry said, describing his marinas' reporting and monitoring practices.

Committee members raised questions about tax collection, enforcement and competitive fairness. Members were told that trip tickets and other reporting requirements remain in effect and that tax collection is administered by the Louisiana Department of Revenue, not LDWF. LDWF staff also said the commission would use a potpourri amendment at its November meeting to add the buffer language and that the amendment would trigger a new public-comment period and summary report back to the legislature.

After discussion, the vice chairman made a motion to recommend a two-mile buffer; Representative Tanner Breaux offered a substitute motion to set the buffer at three-quarters of a mile. The substitute motion was accepted by voice vote with no objections. The committee's recommendation will be transmitted to LDWF so the commission can consider the potpourri amendment at its November meeting.

The committee did not adopt formal numeric thresholds for enforcement in the hearing; LDWF staff said details such as the precise measurement method for the buffer (for example, how a distance is determined on navigable waters) will be addressed in the rulemaking and public-comment process. LDWF staff also reported the department currently shows 59 special bait-dealers permits in its system.