BATON ROUGE — The commercial menhaden fishing industry came out on top at Thursday's Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting, while the hundreds of recreational fishermen in attendance left ready to keep fighting.

In 2024, regulations were put in place requiring menhaden boats to fish half a mile or more off most of Louisiana's coastline west of the Mississippi River. That move was seen as a step in the right direction for recreational anglers, many of whom want a no-fishing buffer zone of one mile or more.

On Thursday, the LDWF Commission voted 4-3 in approval of a notice of intent to decrease that no-fishing buffer zone back down to a quarter of a mile in some areas, but increase it in other areas seen as more sensitive.

Dozens of captains, fishermen, spoke

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