BATON ROUGE -- State Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham and the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission announced significant openings to recreational fishing Wednesday, a decision supported by at least two recreational saltwater fishermen in the Teche Area.

Vast areas of the Gulf of Mexico to the east of here have been closed to recreational and commercial fishing ever since the catastrophic explosion and subsequent oil leak at Deepwater Horizon, an oil drilling rig 40 miles south of Venice. The LWFC held a special meeting Wednesday to consider allowing recreational fishing in many of those areas.

“Well, that’d be helpful for charter (boat) captains and all, I’m sure. At least people can get back on the water (in the previously closed areas from below Houma to Lake Pontchartrain),” said Loreauville Mayor Al Broussard, an avid speckled trout fisherman, who spends most of his time on the water in Vermilion Bay, specifically The Cove.

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“That’ll get some (economic) activity going. I have no problem,” Broussard said.

Todd Semar of Lydia said he has followed the ongoing struggle by recreational and commercial fishermen who have been unable to fish because of closures in state and federal waters.

“I know all about the meeting,” Semar said Wednesday afternoon before the LWFC met at 4 p.m. “There are a lot of recreational fishermen that have been pushing for catch and release. They just want to fish. I stand with them to a point �- I don’t want to destroy the fisheries.”

Like Broussard, Semar said he supports the move to allow recreational fishing and boost the economy because saltwater fishing-related businesses have been hit hard by closures.

With the LWFC’s action, approximately 86 percent of recreational fishing in Louisiana opened immediately Wednesday.

After hearing public comments from a cross-section of Louisiana residents, including charter captains, recreational anglers, seafood wholesalers and distributors, Coastal Conservation Association-Louisiana and the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, the commission voted unanimously in favor of the proposal.

“The measures taken today by the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission will allow recreational anglers, including recreational shrimping, crabbing and fishing, to resume,” Barham said after the meeting. “While I am pleased and fully support today’s action, I caution all fishermen to exercise caution while fishing in areas closed to commercial fishing.”

This opening includes licensed charter boat guides and bait fishermen or dealers who harvest for and sell to recreational fishermen exclusively.

Recreational fishing is being allowed subject to continual testing and monitoring, as this activity is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. To date the Environmental Protection Agency’s near-offshore water tests have shown chemical contamination levels below public health concern.

“That gave us a change of confidence,” Barham said. “If we don’t have hydrocarbons -- we’ve run hundreds of samples on crab, shrimp and finfish, and there is no dispersant present -- our position has always been to get people fishing as rapidly as we could, and we are in that situation now.

“I consider today’s action the first step in opening state waters to all fishing, both recreational and commercial,” he said.

Although recreational fishing will be allowed in portions of the previously closed fishing areas, certain delineated areas, including heavily oiled areas, areas associated with boom and areas of active cleanup continue to be closed to recreational fishing.