Don Dubuc 870 AM 2hr Special Menhaden Discussion This Morning

Wish there was a way we could listen online - but every link i have clicked is not Don Dubuc. Oh well, hopefully Don or someone posts a link to it after show.

Normally I think Ben Landry does a good job arguing in favor of the industry, but usually he isnt talking to someone who knows the subject as well as Don Dubuc did during this interview.

The stuff about campaign contributions was not a good look for the pogy boats. Ben said “it isnt as much as you think it is” and then Don brought up the actual donations of $780k right after that. Made him and the industry look kind of dishonest. They made the contributions, they should own them and explain why they contribute heavily to politicians. He instead said “recreational anglers probably give way more to politicians” or something like that, which I dont think anyone believes. CCA isnt allowed to make political contributions as a non-profit.

Looks like it just got posted to Spotify for those on there. It's busted up into three segments.

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but usually he isnt talking to someone who knows the subject as well as Don Dubuc did during this interview.

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I was really impressed by Don. He had clearly read up on everything and was ready to go.

This is 100% on the greased palmed politcians. Did yall hear about how they were supposed to limit it to 1 miles and then the new gov got elected and it quickly changed to 1/2 mile?

Sad that our children’s and grandchildren’s future can be bought for such a paltry sum.
On a side note, Gary Haynes (Laffy DA) was sentenced to 7 years last week on federal charges. Next up is Jack Montoucet our former head of WL&F. Hope that cocksucker gets sent away for 7 also.

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This is 100% on the greased palmed politcians. Did yall hear about how they were supposed to limit it to 1 miles and then the new gov got elected and it quickly changed to 1/2 mile?

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Who made this decision? Politicians? WLF? A commission? Someone needs to be accountable to answer the question as to “why”?

If it’s the commission, then who appointed them? Are they getting paid or is the politician that appointed them getting paid?

That’s where my breakdown in understanding is. If the people of Louisiana (the sportsman at least) are so against this, and have gobs of evidence against it, then why would the boundary get changed? Who can answer that question for the people?

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Who made this decision? Politicians? WLF? A commission? Someone needs to be accountable to answer the question as to “why”?

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The decision is made by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission. It is a board of 7 appointed commissioners.

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If it’s the commission, then who appointed them? Are they getting paid or is the politician that appointed them getting paid?

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They are all appointed by a governor. Some were appointed by JBE and some by Jeff Landry. The current makeup of the LWF Commission is 4-3 in favor of commercial interests, due to the appointees from Landry.

Landry’s campaign benefited from hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from the menhaden industry. There might be some other under-the-table benefits going on, but there was a ton of money publicly contributed by these menhaden companies and owners to Jeff Landry and they are now getting the benefits of cherry picked commissioners friendly to them.

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That’s where my breakdown in understanding is. If the people of Louisiana (the sportsman at least) are so against this, and have gobs of evidence against it, then why would the boundary get changed? Who can answer that question for the people?

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An excellent question. The 3 commissioners friendly to conservation and recreational interests voted against the buffer change. The 4 who voted in favor of decreasing the buffer are all aligned with commercial interests. Two own alligator farms. One owned a shrimp dock. Jimmy Martin was a commercial fisherman and was appointed by Landry early this year. Chairman Sagrera was also appointed by Landry this year and is one of the alligator farmers. This changed the commission to be favorable to the menhaden reduction industry.

I was in the Nov 6 hearing and it was very heated and obvious how each of them would vote. The 4 commercial friendly guys were confrontational to the commenters who were against the pogy boats. Jimmy Martin, in an bizarre off topic question, asked the owner of Puglia’s sporting goods if he sold barbless hooks, because if he didnt sell barbless hooks he was somehow doing more harm to the ecosystem than the pogy boats. It was the most wildly ignorant statement and I was embarrassed as a Louisiana resident that these guys are making such important decisions. One of the commissioners who owns alligator farms was on his phone the entire time, not really listening to the people who got up to speak and comment. The guy who owned the shrimp dock was the deciding vote and he voted with the pogy boats because the shrimp industry is aligned with the pogy boats. They kill a lot of bycatch also and view any threat to the pogy reduction industry as a future threat to them.

There is definitely a strange alliance and solidarity between the pogy reduction industry and all other commercial fishing and shrimping mom and pop businesses. It’s ironic because there would be more fish available for our commercial fishermen if it weren’t for the pogy boats and the real kicker is the reduction product fish meal and oil is almost exclusively used in aquaculture overseas, including shrimp and salmon that are sold back into our market to compete against our own domestic commercial shrimpers and fishermen. Omega themselves own one of the largest shrimp farms in Central America. They harvest our pogies to feed their farms.

One speaker got to the podium and brought up that the 2 commissioners owning alligator farms would be an obvious conflict of interest since the main cost in farming alligators is the feed… made from menhaden. So the cost of their feed would go up if the harvest of menhaden was reduced. It’s highly unethical and an ethics complaint has been filed, to my knowledge.



TLDR: Jeff Landry was elected from pogy industry money - he appointed commissioners friendly to the industry - they vote in their best interests, not in the interests of the people of Louisiana.


I will add that the menhaden people and their lobbyists are very friendly with Jeff Landry and this kind of stuff only happens with the governor on board. 100% he was aware of this buffer change. Many people reached out to him to try to stop it, telling him it would be a political issue for him later, but he ignored and essentially responded that these menhaden companies would lose jobs if we didn’t accommodate them. Or at least thats what Ive heard from more than one person who has spoken to him about it.

If you dont like what’s happening with the pogy boats, it’s ultimately all on Jeff Landry.

The commission meetings and Votes are a legal Formality only.
You will never see those guys do what’s right for the state of Louisiana.
I always wanted to see a brawl breakout and hands be throwed when attending.