BATON ROUGE- The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says the fall shrimp season will be closing in most state waters near the coast next week.
    
Shrimping will close at sunset on Dec. 21 in so-called inside waters except in areas east of the Mississippi River. Inside waters are those close to shore or in waterways along the coast.
    
Shrimping, though, will be allowed until further notice in areas east of the Mississippi River. Those include Lake Pontchartrain, Chef Menteur and Rigolets Passes, Lake Borgne, Mississippi Sound and the open waters of Breton and Chandeleur Sounds.
    
Meanwhile, fishermen can still catch shrimp in waters farther offshore.
    
The fisheries department closes shrimping when it deems that shrimp populations need to be protected to allow them to grow in size.