This year's legislative bill's list includes a proposal to make speckled trout a gamefish, a move that would prohibit commercial take of this prized food-fish species. The anti-gill net bill allowed commercial take of speckled trout by rod and reel, a method which has dramatically reduced the commercial catch and availability of speckled trout on the open market. Trout prices at the dock, and at wholesale and retail levels are at an all-time high. The arguments for and against gamefish status for speckled trout are fairly obvious, but, from here, they're falling on deaf ears. It's not time for such a move.
Speckled trout belong on Louisiana dining-room tables.
What it's time to do is for these two sides to stop feuding. Furthermore, it's time to stop what has been a growing illegal black-market trade in speckled trout. For the recreational side, it's time to cease escalation of this fight and to concentrate on improving the environment in which these fish live and make more fish. Until both sides in this battle understand how many resources they are wasting in this Cold War, we will continue to lose sight of the big picture, a picture of a continually wasting-away estuary that is the source of Louisiana's bounty. Copyright 1995-2001, The Advocate, Capital City Press, All Rights Reserved.