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LAFOURCHE PARISH GAME AND FISH COMMISSION
Alligator and Nutria Permits
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Alligators
Revenues from alligator trapping and egg collections represent a significant source of income to the Lafourche Parish Game and Fish Commission (Commission). Slighty over sixty alligator tags are allocated for the Lake Field/Lake Long Game and Fish Preserve (Preserve) and 1,050 alligator eggs were collected in 2008. A permit is required to harvest alligators or collect alligator eggs from the Preserve, with the Commission collecting a percentage of the proceeds from these activities. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) manages the alligator harvest and egg collection program. Alligator harvest tags are issued for wetland habitats based on estimated number of alligators in each habitat type. Trappers must receive written permission from a landowner to be issued alligator harvest tags. Egg collection quotas and permits are also issued by the LDWF to alligator ranches were the eggs are hatched and the hatchlings reared until they reach harvest size. Anyone harvesting eggs must also obtain written permission to collect eggs from property. LDWF regulations and license forms are available to download: alligator hunter application and alligator regulations. Solicitation of bids to trap alligators for one year and collect alligator eggs for three years in the Preserve are published in the Official Journal (The Daily Comet) of Lafourche Parish. Sealed bids may be mailed to: Alligator Bids, Lafourche Parish Game & Fish Management Commission, P.O. Box 215, Lockport, Louisiana 70374. Sealed bids are taken from applicants and opened at a Commission public meeting. The Commission may not necessarily select the highest bidder and reserves the right to consider a bid invalid if it does not comply with bid rules. Bid deadlines are early July of each year for the harvest of alligators and early spring for the harvest of alligator eggs. The bid for alligator trapping should contain the hunters name, address, contact information, alligator license number, vessel registration, and all helper’s license numbers. A brief resume of experience trapping alligators should be included along with receipts, invoices, and other paperwork for alligator tag contracts for the last three years. The bid should be in the form of a percentage of the “gross amount of sales before expenses": X% for Commission with X% to the hunter. The applicant must abide by the following rules; failure to comply will disqualify trappers for future alligator tags. Alligator tags cannot be used for recreational hunting activities. All hides must be sold to a licensed buyer. No hides may be purchased by the hunter or any company to which the hunter is associated with and then sold to another buyer. A copy of the buyers invoice must accompany payment to the Commission, which is due by November 1. Nutria Nutria, native to South America, is an introduced and invasive semi-aquatic rodent. The decline in fur trapping activity since the mid-1980s has resulted in over population of nutria with severe over grazing occurring throughout coastal Louisiana. When vegetation is removed from the surface of the marsh from nutria over grazing, the very fragile organic soils are exposed to erosion through tidal action. The Lafourche Parish Game and Fish Commission (Commission) does require nutria hunters to obtain permission prior to harvesting nutria within the Lake Field/Lake Long Game and Fish Preserve Preserve) for fur or for reimbursement from the Nutria Control Program. The Nutria Control Program began in 2002 and is administered by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and funded through The Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (CWPPRA). An economic incentive payment of $5 per nutria tail is provided when they are delivered by registered participants to collection centers established in coastal Louisiana. The Nutria Control Program regulations and application forms are available. Proper licenses from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will be required. 
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