Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) officers arrested a deckhand from a commercial shrimping vessel 15 August after agents discovered cocaine, marijuana, and a sawed off 12-gauge shotgun during a search.
Officers also cited the boat’s captain for multiple violations of the state’s commercial fishing regulations.
On 15 August, LDWF officers spotted a commercial shrimp vessel skimming the waters of Cote Blanche Bay in Iberia Parish and decided to board the vessel. An inspection revealed that the vessel was using oversized skimmer nets that did not meet turtle excluder device requirements. Officers seized the illegal nets and 1,813 pounds of shrimp during the inspection, the latter of which were later sold at the dock to the highest bidder.
Captain Peter Nguyen was cited for using oversized nets, violating the turtle excluder device requirements, and for being in possession of three undersized stone crab claws.
However, the surprise inspection also uncovered several other items on board, with officers arresting deckhand Rendal Jennies for possession of cocaine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and an unregistered shotgun. Jennies was later booked in the Iberia Parish Jail.
LDWF has issued multiple citations this month in monitoring the state’s shrimping season, which officially opened on 11 August.
On August 5, officers cited Jessie Voisin and Paul Verdin for actively skimming for shrimp during a closed season in Terrebonne Parish. Agents seized 306 pounds of illegally caught shrimp from the pair and sold it to the highest bidder.
On August 7, officers cited Phuc Tran for shrimping in St. Bernard Parish before the season had opened. The officers took the 440 pounds of shrimp he caught and sold it at the dock.
Some commercial shrimpers were also impacted by a dredging project accident that sent a surge of sediment into No Name Bayou near Cameron Parish just before the season started. A conservation group has asked state and federal agencies to take action to address the incident, but commercial shrimpers in the area said the damage may already be done.
“To fix that back there, I don’t know a fast, short-term fix because that marsh back there is crucial for the fishermen who make a living,” commercial fisher Ryan Jordan told local news outlet KPLC. “What shrimp are we going to catch? That’s where most of the shrimp leave at.”
