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Home > Current News > 2008

News: 2008

L.W.F.C. Approves Oyster Cargo Vessel Regulation
Posted: 2/26/08

The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission ratified a declaration of emergency allowing permitted vessels to transfer oysters on board from harvest vessels for mechanical refrigeration within five hours of the beginning of daily harvest at their June 5 meeting.

This rule will become effective June 24, 2008 and will only be in effect from May through October for oysters for raw consumption. The mechanical refrigeration must deliver an air temperature of 45 degrees or cooler.

Because of this new rule, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) will be issuing Oyster Cargo Vessel Permits. The permits provide for larger oyster vessels equipped with on board mechanical refrigeration to accept containerized and tagged oyster harvests from smaller boats that do not have the room to install a refrigerator and cannot make it back to the dock within the five-hour refrigeration window. These permitted oyster cargo vessels will then transport the oyster harvests for these smaller vessels to the dock.

The action was necessary in order to provide oyster harvesters with a means of complying with mandated U. S. Food and Drug Administration refrigeration requirements for oysters harvested during the summer months for raw consumption.

This rule will be in compliance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements and is in accordance with the Office of Public Health Molluscan Shellfish Program.

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