2004
NEWS ARCHIVE
Nutria
Incentive Program Ends With 332,596 Harvested
April 15, 2004
The 2003-04
harvest under the Coastwide Nutria Control Program concluded on
March 31, 2004. Three hundred forty-six participants harvested
a total of 332,596 nutria. This year's harvest was an increase
of 24,436 over last year's harvest of 308,160. Nutria are invasive
species that devour coastal marsh grasses, causing erosion and
eventual marsh disintegration. The program is conducted by the
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and funded by the
Coastal Wetlands Planning Protection and Restoration Act.
The harvest began on
the first day of trapping season, November 20, 2003. The program’s
goal was to reduce or eliminate damage to Louisiana's wetlands
caused by nutria by increasing the annual harvest up to 400,000
animals. In order to increase the harvest, the program distributed
$4 for each nutria tail brought by official participants to official
collection locations along Louisiana's coast.
The program area was
bounded on the north by Interstate 10 from the Texas line to Baton
Rouge, Interstate 12 from Baton Rouge to Slidell, and Interstate
10 from Slidell to the Mississippi line.
Information was collected
from each participant in order to determine the method of take,
carcass use, and harvest date and location. The information on
the harvest location was refined to each participant's lease this
year to show more precise locations of nutria harvest in order
to track accomplishments towards the goal.
Similar to last year,
the majority of nutria were harvested in the southeastern portion
of the state, which also has the most wetland damage caused by
nutria. However, specific locations of high take within the southeastern
portion were different from last year. This year, the largest
harvest (86,720 nutria) occurred in Plaquemines Parish, and the
second largest harvest occurred in Terrebonne Parish (72,846 nutria).
Significant harvests also occurred in Lafourche (51,736 nutria),
Jefferson (24,896 nutria) and St. Bernard (13,344 nutria) parishes.
LDWF will
assess the amount and severity of the nutria damage for 2004 during
aerial surveys to be conducted in April and May. A final report
on the 2003-04 incentive program and aerial surveys will be available
in July at the website, http://www.nutria.com.
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