By Rita Shirley LeBleu

Eight Hackberry High School students and other volunteers made quick work of retrieving 236 “ghost pots” from Kelso Bayou Thursday morning, Feb. 12. The air was a little chillier than expected at the old Amoco Dock.

Stevie Trahan, Cameron LNG Manager of External Relations said the Derelict Crab Trap Removal Program began in 2004. Parishes across the Gulf coastline participate. Crab season closes for two weeks. Commercial and other crab fisherman receive notice to pick up all their pots. If they don’t, the abandoned gear is picked up and disposed of by Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries.

This year, Robin Russell, Hackberry High School, reached out to Cameron LNG and Sempra Infrastructure to gauge their interest in partnering up to serve as volunteers along with students. The idea checked all the boxes for Cameron LNG: working with area youth, cleaning up and community service.

Russell shared a video of Black Lake before notice was given to crabbers. A sea of pots bobbed within a few feet of each other. She told how the ghost pots continue trapping and killing crabs, fish and other wildlife and serve as a boat hazard.

No one knows that better than David Reeves who runs a self-propelled barge crane for Texas Petroleum. “I had four traps removed out of my propeller yesterday,” he said.

HHS student Talia Abrams served as volunteer recruiter tagging Lane Gray, Marcus Chambliss, Myles French and Taylor Broxton. Neely LaBove participated to “help make a difference in the community and be productive,” she said. Aubre” Mire is no stranger to putting out and pulling in baited traps. She set pots with her uncle, starting at 5 a.m.

Sydney Boudreaux has never removed ghost pots, but she has been involved in a beach sweep. The activity was helping her get her nerves off the HHS Lady Mustangs basketball game that evening.

“If we win tonight, we’ll be the undefeated district champs for the first time in 12 years,” Boudreaux said.

The Department of Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) and the Cameron Parish Sheriff’s Department manned boats.

Cameron Sheriff Chris Savoie compared the event to Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser’s “Love the Boot,” the largest annual statewide litter removal and beautification project aimed at cleaning up communities and promoting environmental responsibility.

“We’re just getting a head start here in Hackberry,” he said.