Commercial fishing is vital to Louisiana, bringing in $2.4 billion to the local economy according to the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, and netting more than 850 million pounds of seafood caught per year.
Louisiana Fisheries Forward is a voluntary educational program for local commercial fishers. Started in 2012 with partial funding from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement, its mission is to improve the economic accomplishments of commercial fishing by providing regulatory resources on the internet.
LFF is a collaboration between the LSU AgCenter, Louisiana Sea Grant and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. It helps educate local fishers by modernizing their operations, aids consumers with hands-on workshops and supports everyone in between by providing training and instructional videos on their website.
LFF runs a two-day summit every other year that teaches different ways to incorporate technology into the fishing industry. The conference has been held in several locations across Louisiana including Houma, Kenner and most recently Slidell.
Louisiana Sea Grant, set up in 1968 through LSU, is part of a nationally-renowned network of university-based programs. Modeled after to the Land Grant system, Louisiana Sea Grant sets out to promote care of the state’s maritime resources by providing research, education and outreach.
Louisiana Sea Grant has multiple specialists on staff to help with resiliency, water quality and sustainability, among other special interest areas.
One of those specialists is Evelyn Watts, a Grace Drews Lehman Professor in Human Ecology at LSU. Watts is also a seafood extension specialist at Louisiana Sea Grant, which means she collaborates with the seafood industry to ensure regulatory compliance. She graduated from LSU with a doctorate in philosophy with a concentration in food science in 2016.
“I’m really passionate about my work,” Watts said in a video on the LSU AgCenter website. “What I like most about my work is first, [the] interaction with people. I also love seafood, and I also love traveling. So as part of my extension work, I get to enjoy those things.”
According to Watts, the state is the second-largest fish harvester by volume in the U.S., behind Alaska. Louisiana is also the fourth largest producer of commercial fish by volume, behind Maine, Massachusetts and Alaska.
Commercial fishing can harm the Gulf’s ecosystem, specifically through habitat destruction. LFF resources and government regulations help mitigate some issues it causes. It limits overharvesting by issuing permits to prevent illegal commercial fishing operations.
Louisiana Sea Grant also has strategic initiatives in place to promote maritime wildlife sustainability.
Watts helps oversee the Seafood Processing Demonstration Lab, the state’s only seafood-focused research facility. The lab houses industrial food processing equipment for demonstration and training purposes.
The goal of the lab is to help the seafood industry develop new production strategies and food safety compliance by providing training and education.
“As a kid, I never dreamed of being a food scientist,” Watts said. “I wanted to own a pet clinic. I made it to vet school, and while I was in school, I had to take microbiology classes and food safety classes. Little [did] I know that I fell in love with that area and that became my passion.”
