Louisiana's spring shrimp season will open Monday in a portion of state inshore waters.
The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission convened a special meeting Thursday to set the date for the opening in waters from the eastern shore of South Pass of the Mississippi River westward to the western shore of Freshwater Bayou Canal. The season opens at 6 a.m.
Department biologists have been monitoring the waters since March to develop recommendations for the season's spring dates and provided the commission with projections of when a minimum of 50 percent of the inshore brown shrimp population sampled reach sizes of 100 count per pound or larger.
The commission will consider the opening dates for the remaining state inshore waters for the 2018 spring shrimp season at its May 3 meeting.