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Louisiana fishermen reported good catches but low prices on the opening day of the spring shrimp season.

Shrimp season for waters within three miles of the coast opened at 6 a.m. today, but nobody is sure how the season will play out.

"It's kind of early to predict it now," said Al Marmande of Al's Shrimp Co. in Dularge, who expects his first catches to come in Tuesday afternoon.

Marmande said he will have a good sense of the season by the end of the week but has heard reports of a good amount of brown shrimp along the coast.

"I'm hearing they're catching a few small shrimp, but not too many large shrimp," he said. "They're catching like 40-50 brown shrimp and not a whole lot of white shrimp."

The state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries monitors growth of larvae and samples the size of the shrimp, which factors into the decision on when to reopen coastal waters to shrimpers. The openings are projected for when at least 50 percent of inshore brown shrimp reach market size.

Read the full story at the Houma Courier >>

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