CCA unveils plans for new artificial reef in Calcasieu Lake
Project named in honor of the late Brad Vincent, Southwest Louisiana sportsman
CCA Louisiana and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries are set to begin construction on a new artificial reef in Calcasieu Lake in Southwest Louisiana designed to create new marine habitat and support recreational fishing.
CCA also announced that the structure will be known as “The Brad Vincent Reef” after the late sportsman who frequented the waters of Big Lake and whose family has long played a key role in the preservation marine habitat in Louisiana.
CCA Louisiana Executive Director David Cresson gave details on the planned reef to a large crowd on Thursday night during the Lake Charles CCA Annual Membership Banquet.
Board members Jack Lawton, Jr., Bob Bush, Gus Schram III, John Walther and Chas Drost presented a special proclamation from Gov. Bobby Jindal to Vincent’s family, all of Sulphur, La.
Coy Durke from Abbeville, a member of our Vermilion Chapter Committee, is now the proud owner of a ProDrive 1748CC! He was the lucky raffle ticket winner of the 2012 Bayou Chapter Boat Raffle.
Special thanks to H&H, ProDrive, Plains Marketing and the Bayou Chapter Committee for making this raffle possible.
Gulf rigs, structures on track to become Essential Fish Habitat
Gulf Council begins process to properly recognize value of artificial reefs
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX - A request to have the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council begin the process of classifying rigs and other vital artificial reefs as Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) was unanimously approved by the Council at its April meeting in Corpus Christi, Texas. Dr. Bob Shipp, Council member from Alabama and chairman of the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of South Alabama, made the motion as part of an effort to protect those structures from a 2010 federal directive to summarily remove all non-producing energy structures within five years of the issuance of that directive.
Thank You Volunteers at the Derelict Crab Trap Removal Program in Cocodrie
CCA Louisiana would like to thank all of its volunteers who participated in the Derelict Crab Trap Removal Program in Cocodrie. The Terrebonne area cleanup was successful, pulling in 747 traps to the rodeo/collection site at LUMCON marine lab.
Since 2004, the Derelict Crab Trap Removal Program has removed about 20,000 abandoned crab traps in navigable waters in Louisiana’s bayous and lakes. This year, Louisiana Sea Grant has teamed up with Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries on cleanups of derelict crab traps during area closures over three weekends with a festival/rodeo atmosphere.
To view the photos from the LUMCON event from March 17th, click here.
To view the photos from the Delacroix event from March 3rd, click here.
Bordelon wins Supriya Jindal Foundation Grand Prize
Past Lake Charles CCA President Brett Wicke Bordelon, who was recently awarded the Supriya Jindal Foundation for Louisiana’s Children First Lady Award, has also won the foundation’s 2011 grand prize.
Throughout the year, the foundation awarded deserving individuals who have made a positive impact in the lives of Louisiana’s youth. At the end of the year, a grand prize winner was drawn at random from the pool of winners throughout the year.
Second Artificial Reef Construction Complete in Lake Pontchartrain
CCA Louisiana and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries recently completed a new artificial reef in the northern portion of Lake Pontchartrain.
To view photos from a December reef site visit, click here.
The reef – named the “Dudley and Kim Vandenborre Reef” and located in St. Tammany Parish – honors the man who approached CCA Louisiana with the idea to use the material from the damaged Twin Spans to build artificial reefs in Lake Pontchartrain.
The I-10 Twin Span bridges were severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The 4-acre reef, located in Lake Pontchartrain at permitted sites between the Interstate 10 and La. 11 bridges, will create an ideal habitat for all sorts of marine species, including speckled trout, redfish, drum and flounder.
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