Table 1. Mean user characteristics, Humble Canal area, Rockefeller 

 Refuge, Cameron Parish, Louisiana, 1981. 



a See "Creel Census" section for period descriptions. 



size was observed during period 5. The impounded Lakes 3 and 4 and the semi-impounded Miller 

 Lake weir were restricted areas with no recreational activities permitted during period 1, thus 

 limiting activities to rod and reel fishing, crabbing, and oystering on unrestricted refuge areas and 

 to trawling and rod and reel fishing offshore. The large mean party size during period 3 was 

 possibly a result of the shrimp possession limit of 45 kg per party. When castnetting for shrimp, 

 parties included additional people to crab at the same site. The small mean party size during 

 period 5, when the shrimp possession limit was also 45 kg/party, may have been a result of more 

 people fishing for redfish and less shrimping. Each party spent an average of 5.88 h on the refuge 

 with a low of 4.45 h during period 1 and a high of 6.59 h during period 5 (Table 1). Shrimp 

 possession limit during period 5 was also set at 45 kg per party, but the smaller mean party size 

 during period 5 required each party to remain on the refuge longer in an attempt to catch their 

 limit of 45 kg. The difference in the time spent on the refuge by each party between period 3 and 

 period 5, the periods when 45 kg of shrimp/party could be harvested, may also have resulted from 

 possibly greater catch rates during period 3. 



VISITOR ACTIVITIES 



Approximately 30% of Louisiana residents fish in saltwater (Louisiana State Parks Recreational 

 Commission 1974). The parishes (counties) nearest Rockefeller Refuge (Calcasieu, Cameron, and 

 Vermilion) account for about 12.5% of resident fishing license sales in Louisiana (Gosselink et al. 

 1979) and only 5.35% of the State population (U.S. Dep. of Commerce 1982). 



The user survey conducted in 1981 indicated that visitors entering Rockefeller Refuge by way 

 of the Humble Canal landing spent 135,221 user-hours on the study area (Table 2). Castnetting 

 for shrimp and oystering were activities conducted entirely on the refuge. Rod and reel fishing 

 and crabbing were centered mainly on the refuge but some fewer were conducted offshore in the 

 Gulf of Mexico. Trawling, an activity not permitted on the refuge, was limited to offshore. 



Shrimpers visiting the refuge have a choice of castnetting on the refuge, primarily in Lakes 3 

 and 4 and at the Miller Lake weir, or trawling nearby in the gulf. The number, however, of user- 

 hours spent castnetting was about 4 times greater than the number trawling. 



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