Nutria
Nutria: Myocastor Coypus
Nutria, Myocastor Coypus, are large semi-aquatic rodents indigenous to South America. The original range included Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. In the 1930’s nutria were imported into Louisiana for the fur farming industry and were released, either intentionally or accidentally into the Louisana coastal marshes. Nutria are herbivores and feed particularly on wetland plants. Nutria have caused extensive damage to Louisiana’s coastal wetlands due to their feeding activity.
LDWF Nutria Control Program
It is estimated that approximately 16,424 acres of wetlands impacted by nutria as of April 2018. The chance of restoring or even slowing the degradation of coastal marshes in Louisiana will be hampered considerably without sustained reduction of nutria populations.
The Coastwide Nutria Control Program (CNCP) was established in 2002 to combat nutria in coastal Louisiana. The goal of the program is to remove up to 400,000 nutria each season from coastal Louisiana to reduce nutria-induced marsh damage.
We accomplish this by paying a bounty of $6/nutria tail to hunters and trappers registered in the CNCP. The program season runs Nov 20 – Mar 31.
Participation in the program requires a trapping license, completion of the CNCP application, and designation of property or properties to be harvested along with landowner information and signature. Public properties are available and instructions for registering these properties is in the application packet (see below links). All registered properties must be within the program boundary area which is all of coastal Louisiana, bounded on the north by Interstate-10 from the Texas state line to Baton Rouge, I-12 from Baton Rouge to Slidell, and I-10 again from Slidell to the Mississippi state line.
Funding for the CNCP is provided by the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, And Restoration Act (CWPPRA)
Applying to the LDWF Nutria Control Program
The 2024-2025 season opens November 20, 2024
Registration begins September 10th, 2024
Applications for the 2024-2025 season will be available for print below, when available. If you registered for the 2023-2024 season, we will mail an application to the address we have on file. If you moved, you can print an application from the link below.
Night time harvest of nutria is allowed throughout the CNCP season on private property only without the need for a special permit. Check with your local law enforcement prior to shooting, some parishes may require notice.
Free Trapper Education Workshops offered through the department where you can learn how to safely and ethically trap furbearers, including nutria, or just freshen up your skill. Click here to learn more.
Public Property through the Office of State Lands: We’ve made 7 overview maps of Office of State Lands properties so you can choose wisely which properties you’d like to harvest. You may choose up to 3 properties. a detailed map of each property is available upon request, email jhogue-manuel@wlf.la.gov for maps. See the public lands page in the application packet for further instructions. the list of properties has not changed since 2022 however, Lake Henderson South and Lake Natchez will have slightly altered boundaries for the 2024-25 season.
Herbivory Damage and Harvest Maps
From 1998-2002, surveys flown by the Nutria Harvest and Wetland Demonstration Program observed up to 170 damage sites and estimated as much as 102,585 acres of damaged wetlands. Since implementation of the Coastwide Nutria Control Program in 2002-2003, the number of damage sites has been as few as 10 sites and coastwide estimated damage as low as 4,181 ac. Over the course of the program, nutria herbivory damage has decreased over 90%. A healthy annual harvest is important for managing nutria damage to sensitive marsh habitat.
|
Season |
Nutria Harvest |
Total Incentives Paid |
Estimated Damaged Acres |
# of Damage Sites |
| 2020-2021 | 312,118 | $1,872,708 | 8,436 | 25 |
| 2019-2020 | 245,865 | $1,475,190 | 13,474 | 25 |
| 2018-2019 | 223,155 | $1,115,775 | 14,652 | 25 |
| 2017-2018 | 170,471 | $852,355 | 16,424 | 21 |
| 2016-2017 | 216,052 | $1,080,260 | 5,866 | 16 |
| 2015-2016 | 349,235 | $1,746,175 | 6,496 | 11 |
| 2014-2015 | 341,708 | $1,708,540 | 6,008 | 11 |
| 2013-2014 | 388,264 | $1,941,320 | 4,181 | 11 |
| 2012-2013 | 388,160 | $1,940,800 | 4,624 | 12 |
| 2011-2012 | 354,354 | $1,771,770 | 4,233 | 11 |
| 2010-2011 | 338,512 | $1,692,560 | 6,296 | 11 |
| 2009-2010 | 445,936 | $2,229,815 | 8,475 | 11 |
| 2008-2009 | 334,038 | $1,670,190 | 20,333 | 19 |
| 2007-2008 | 308,212 | $1,541,060 | 23,141 | 23 |
| 2006-2007 | 375,683 | $1,878,415 | 34,665 | 23 |
| 2005-2006 | 168,843 | $844,215 | 55,755 | 31 |
| 2004-2005 | 297,535 | $1,190,140 | 53,475 | 49 |
| 2003-2004 | 332,596 | $1,330,384 | 63,398 | 69 |
| 2002-2003 | 308,160 | $1,232,640 | 82,080 | 84 |
Wetland Damage Caused by Nutria
Prior to the Coastwide Nutria Control Program, estimates of vegetative damage caused by nutria encompassed as much as 102,585 acres and was documented in at least 11 Coastal Wetlands Planning Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) project sites in the Barataria-Terrebonne Basins. That estimate of >100,000 acres of marsh damaged was conservative because only the worse (most obvious) damage can be detected from aerial surveys and the number of acres being impacted was certainly higher.
Since the introduction of the Coastwide Nutria Control Program in 2002, the number of impacted acres has dropped as low as 4,181 acres (2014). Overgrazing by nutria removes vegetation from the surface of the marsh, which results in the very fragile organic soils becoming exposed to erosion through tidal action. If damaged areas do not revegetate quickly, they will become open water as tidal scour removes soil and thus lowers elevation. Frequently, nutria grazing damages the plant’s root systems, making recovery through vegetative regeneration very slow. Reduced harvest since the 2015-2016 season resulted in increased nutria damage to 16,424 ac in 2018. Damaged acres decreased by 11% as the 2019 survey estimated 14,652 ac damaged coastwide.
The first coastwide nutria herbivory survey was flown in 1998 and continued through 2001, as part of the Nutria Harvest and Wetland Demonstration Program. The Coastwide Nutria Control Program began in 2002. Below are the total number of nutria damage sites and the number of acres documented for each year.
| Year | Total # of Damaged Sites Observed | Total # of Damaged Acres Observed | Estimates # Damaged Acres Coastwide |
| 2024 | 22 | 1,479 | 5,546 |
| 2023 | 22 | 1,263 | 4,736 |
| 2022 | 22 | 1,248 | 4,682 |
| 2021 | 23 | 2,250 | 8,437 |
| 2020 | 23 | 3,654 | 13,702 |
| 2019 | 25 | 3,907 | 14,652 |
| 2018 | 21 | 4,380 | 16,424 |
| 2017 | 16 | 1,564 | 5,866 |
| 2016 | 11 | 1,732 | 6,496 |
| 2015 | 12 | 1,602 | 6,008 |
| 2014 | 11 | 1,115 | 4,181 |
| 2013 | 12 | 1,266 | 4,624 |
| 2012 | 11 | 1,129 | 4,233 |
| 2011 | 10 | 2,260 | 8,475 |
| 2010 | 11 | 1,679 | 6,296 |
| 2009 | 19 | 5,422 | 20,333 |
| 2008 | 23 | 6,171 | 23,141 |
| 2007 | 23 | 9,244 | 34,665 |
| 2006 | 21 | 14,260 | 53,475 |
| 2005 | 49 | 14,260 | 53,475 |
| 2004 | 69 | 16,906 | 63,398 |
| 2003 | 84 | 21,888 | 82,080 |
| 2002 | 94 | 21,185 | 79,444 |
| 2001 | 124 | 22,139 | 83,021 |
| 2000 | 132 | 25.939 | 102,585 |
| 1999 | 150 | 27,356 | 102,585 |
| 1998 | 170 | 23,960 | 89,850 |
Coastwide damage estimated by formula: damaged acres observed x 3.75. The 3.75 multiplication factor comes from the area not visible from the transect lines flown in aerial surveys.
Images of wetland damage caused by nutria:
Louisiana's Fur Industry
At one time, Louisiana was the leading producer of mink and muskrat fur pelts in North America. Fur prices have dropped in recent years, making the time and effort required for trapping less productive and less lucrative. Many coastal resource users have been forced to seek employment in the oil and gas industry and elsewhere and it is questionable whether they will ever return to trapping. During the 2001-2002 trapping season, fewer than 1,000 trapping licenses were sold statewide.
Louisiana’s history of trapping furbearers and alligators has played an important role in the state’s culture and economy. New Orleans in the 1720s was a major trading center on the Mississippi River and, as such, was hub for the fur trade. As muskrat trapping flourished in coastal Louisiana during the early 1900s, the fur industry started to grow. In fact, by 1912, trapping was so widespread in Louisiana that the legislature imposed trapping season dates and required trappers to be licensed.
In the late 1940s, the most abundant fur produced in Louisiana was muskrat. However, that changed only a decade later when nutria surpassed muskrat both in numbers trapped and in pelt value.
European demand for nutria kept prices high through the mid-1950s. However, in 1955, supply overcame demand and prices for nutria pelts dropped. The sudden lack of demand resulted in an over-abundance of nutria, and their destructive effect on crops and marshland was quickly felt. In an effort to increase the demand for nutria once again, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries searched for new markets interested in nutria products. By the mid-1960s, the German fur market began importing more than one million pelts of nutria per year.
Nutria harvests peaked in 1976 at 1.8 million pelts worth $15.7 million to trappers. In 1981, the price per pelt reached an average of $8.19. But it was during this time that the international fur trade began to slow and prices dropped precipitously. A number of factors contributed to the fur industry’s decline and to the sudden drop in prices during the 1980s:
- The overproduction of European farmed furs caused a glut of supply that affected the downward pricing of all fur.
- Fashion trends shifted away from long-haired, wild-fur garments. Leather fashions became more popular.
- Over 20 percent of all American women owned a fur garment or fur-trimmed item, leading to the conclusion that the market was saturated.
- Animal rights protestors were beginning to influence public attitudes toward fur.
- Consumer spending took a severe downturn because of the 1987 stock market crash, the luxury tax imposed in 1991 on furs, jewelry, luxury automobiles, boats, and aircraft, and the 1992 Gulf War recession.
Market promotion of nutria fur and meat has been somewhat successful through the Louisiana Fur Advisory Council and the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act’s “Nutria Harvest and Wetland Demonstration Project,” but these efforts provide only a small part of the solution.
The global fur market, which was a major factor in keeping nutria populations and their habitat in balance, has substantially declined. This, in turn, has weakened the incentive for trappers to harvest nutria, and a growing nutria population now has become a serious threat to Louisiana coastal wetlands. The continued increase in nutria will most certainly transform marshlands into open water.
You can learn more about Louisiana Fur Advisory Council at www.louisianafur.com
Nutria Fur
Nutria are valued furbearers. Characterized by dense grayish underfur and long glossy guard hairs, wild nutria vary in color from dark brown to yellowish brown. Nutria is similar to beaver, it is often sheared for a sporty, more lightweight feel. Underfur is very soft and plush. A popular fur for linings and trims. It is frequently dyed in a variety of colors.
Examples of nutria fur coats:
If you are interested in learning how to trap furbearers, including nutria, to participate in the fur industry, we offer free online trapper education training and free trapping workshops where you can gain hands-on experience. Click here for more information.
Useful Links
For information about Louisiana’s coast:
- National Wetlands Research Center
- LA Coast – Coastal Wetland Planning, Protection and Restoration Act
- Barataria Terrebonne National Estuary Program
- Louisiana Dept. of Natural Resources
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Nutria recipes:
Products made from nutria:
Nutria fur felt is in high demand! $4 for a green pelt. If you harvest nutria by any method north of Lake Pontchartrain, western coastal areas or in North Louisiana, then contact fur dealers for options
- Nutria Fur Koozies, bags, and more. Made in New Orleans!
- Custom hats made in Lafayette Louisiana! Ask to see their hats made from genuine nutria fur felt.
Trapping/Fur:
For information on free online trapper education courses and free trapping workshops.