[Image: Alligator]In Louisiana, alligators are a renewable natural resource and a product of a healthy wetland environment. The annual harvest of wild alligators and their eggs from the wild are important aspects that contribute to the conservation of the species and the sustainability of the resource. Because these reptiles have a commercial value, landowners are more apt to protect the animals and their habitat on their land. Conservation efforts benefit not only the alligators but also the wetland habitat that is invaluable to all other wetland plants and animals.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is charged with managing the alligator resource. Biologists annually collect information to assess changes in habitat quality and the alligator population. Such efforts are focused on the coastal wetlands, where over 90% of the state's alligators live. With this information, the Department regulates and oversees the wild harvest season in September and sets guidelines for the farming program.
The wild harvest of alligators was re-instituted in the early 1970’s on a limited and experimental basis. Since then, the program has expanded to include the whole state with a sustained annual harvest of over 35,000 alligators. Nearly 2,000 hunters participate in the annual harvest.
The farming program also began in the early 1970’s but production did not significantly increase until the early 1990’s. In the last few years, production has exceeded 200,000 skins. Nearly all of this production is the result of collecting eggs from nests in the wild. To compensate for the removal of eggs, a proportion of the alligators raised on the farm are returned to the marshland where the eggs were originally collected. There are currently 66 licensed alligator farms in Louisiana.