Lawmaker advances bill to authorize recreational alligator harvest

The Senate Natural Resources Committee reported Senate Bill 244 favorably after extended testimony and questions on March 11.

The bill would authorize the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and its commission to establish a recreational alligator harvest. Department officials and counsel said the program is designed as a noncommercial, lottery-based system that would create recreational opportunities while protecting the existing commercial alligator industry.

"We're looking at rolling out 10,000 tags statewide," Cole Garrett, general counsel for the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, said, describing a plan in which each successful lottery applicant could receive up to two tags. Garrett said the proposal would allocate tags by habitat-capable regions, use a lottery fee of $50 with a $25 sport license credit for successful applicants, and limit harvest to methods tied to property ("hook and line") to avoid boat-based or shoot-from-boat take.

Tyler Bosworth, secretary of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, framed the bill as a conservation success story. He said the American alligator's recovery has led to growing populations and that a recreational framework would allow people to engage in cultural, sporting activity without undermining commercial operations.

The department said tags will be marked to indicate they are not for commercial sale and will be scannable so processors and tanneries can identify noncommercial harvests. Officials also said harvest reporting will be required and that the commission will identify public wildlife management areas and waterways for permitted public opportunity.

Kevin Hayes, representing the Louisiana Landowners Association, told the committee landowners had been part of discussions with the department and expressed conditional support, noting concerns about property rights, trespass and enforcement that the department has sought to address.

Committee members asked about start dates and coordination with the commercial season; department officials said the South-of-I-10 public season would start Oct. 1 to avoid peak commercial activity and that the commission will set specific regional allotments. The committee moved to report the bill favorably; there were no objections.

The most recent procedural step is a favorable committee report; additional federal clearances and commission rulemaking were discussed as follow-up items, and the department noted an April 1 Alligator Advisory Council meeting in Abbeville where details will be further discussed.