Saving Seafood

MISSISSIPPI: ROGER WICKER: Disaster relief secured to help restore Gulf Coast

October 1, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Roger Wicker (R-MI):

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross recently sent welcome news to Mississippi’s fishing communities. The declaration of a federal fisheries disaster for our state at the end of September will open up relief for those affected by the ongoing crisis on the Gulf Coast.

After historic rainfall and the unprecedented 123-day opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway earlier this year, fresh water streamed into the Gulf, devastating the local ecosystem, causing massive losses of marine wildlife, and shutting down fishing operations and other businesses.

I have worked on behalf of Mississippians on this issue for months, and in June, Congressman Steven Palazzo and I wrote in support of Governor Phil Bryant’s request for a disaster declaration. All six senators from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama joined together in July to send a letter urging Secretary Ross to help restore the Gulf Coast.

This declaration’s urgency is apparent to anyone who has been paying attention. I have seen firsthand how the introduction of fresh water into the Gulf of Mexico has hurt our state’s signature seafood industry. Between 89 and 100 percent of oysters on harvest reefs have died, shrimp landings are down by 50 percent, and harmful algae have closed entire beachfronts, leaving hotels and restaurants vacant at the height of tourist season.

Read the full release at the Daily Journal

Gulf fisheries suffer major losses; recovery underway

September 6, 2019 — After devastating commercial fishery losses in Louisiana and Mississippi following freshwater intrusion from the Bonnet Carre Spillway opening earlier this year, officials are working on recovery efforts.

On 6 September, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) and the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory released around 90,000 juvenile spotted seatrout (speckled trout) into Hancock County waters.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ALABAMA: Climate and change: A different world, above and below Mobile Bay

September 4, 2019 — The salinity levels of water dictate what lives in and around it, and what doesn’t.

If there’s a lot of rain or a sudden surge of fresh water into a bay, salinity levels drop. If there’s a drought a surge of seawater from a major storm, salinity levels tend to rise. Climate change is already altering those balances.

And the changes wrought by those disruptions can be profound.

Earlier this year, heavy rains in the Midwest swelled the Mississippi River. To prevent flooding in New Orleans, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Bonnet Carre Spillway, west of the city, twice this year. That sent a torrent of fresh water into the waters off Louisiana and Mississippi, west of Biloxi – and created a disaster along the oyster reefs in the area.

Read the full story at the Montgomery Advertiser

Miss. Coast will pay steep price in new plan to save Louisiana wetlands, fishermen warn

August 26, 2019 — Fishermen in South Louisiana have a warning for the Mississippi Coast: If you think the Bonnet Carré Spillway has wreaked havoc in the Mississippi Sound, just wait until Louisiana gets permission for a new diversion of Mississippi River water.

The fishermen in St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes say they have watched saltwater marshes, shrimp, oysters and fish disappear over the last decade because of Mississippi River diversions that flow continuously into the Breton Sound estuary.

They have been trying to fight the state of Louisiana’s plan for new river diversions that would flow into the Barataria Bay and Breton Sound estuaries south of New Orleans. The state is forging ahead with plans, claiming the diversions will build land along Louisiana’s coast, where wetlands the size of a football field sink into the water every 100 minutes.

Read the full story at The Sun Herald

The Mississippi River Devastated Fisheries This Year. Some See It As A Preview Of The Future

August 7, 2019 — One of the ways the state plans to rebuild land on the Louisiana coast is by sediment diversions — diverting the silt, sand, and dirty waters of the Mississippi River into the marsh.

For years, many in the commercial fishing industry have claimed that the influx of freshwater funneled through diversions would ruin their industry. Now, some fishers feel they have proof: the damaging impacts of the 2019 Mississippi River Flood.

On a bayou in the St. Bernard Parish town of Yscloskey, George Barisich starts up his shrimp boat.

“Hear that?” he says, as the diesel engine below our feet roars to a start. “That’s the sound we want to hear.”

Barisich says that engine hasn’t gotten much use lately. There is no point in heading into the marsh when there aren’t any shrimp to catch.

“I’m 82 percent off on my brown shrimp,” he says of this season. “Eighty two. And there’s a lot of people just as bad.”

Read the full story at WWNO

Gulf lawmakers press US commerce secretary for disaster relief

July 25, 2019 — The letters keep pouring into U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ office from elected officials representing Gulf Coast states.

On Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), Steven Palazzo (R-Mississippi), Cedric Richmond (D-Louisiana), Bradley Byrne (R-Alabama), Garret Graves (R-Louisiana), and Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana), each signed a letter supporting the requests submitted by the governors of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi for fishery disaster assistance.

“The livelihoods of many in our coastal communities are dependent on a healthy marine environment, and disruptions to these ecosystems have heavy impacts on both the commercial and recreational fishing industries, including the supply chains they support,” the congressmen wrote.

Record flooding throughout the Mississippi River basin has been recorded through most of the year. For example, earlier this week the river fell below flood stage in St. Louis for the first time in 127 days, breaking a record set 26 years ago.

As the water flows south, the flooding has created devastating effects on the fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. For the first time, the Army Corps of Engineers has needed to open the Bonnet Carré Spillway, causing millions of gallons of freshwater to spill eventually into the saltwater Gulf of Mexico.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

With more storm flooding expected, Louisiana and Mississippi fishermen seek aid

July 10, 2019 — The news just got worse for the commercial fishing industry in Louisiana and Mississippi. Already impacted by oyster mortalities and movement of shrimp to other areas after the Bonnet Carre Spillway opening, the Gulf Coast is expecting flooding due to a tropical storm and likely hurricane this weekend.

A weather system in the Gulf could form as a tropical depression or tropical storm this week, and then hit the Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

Already, the tropical system caused flash flooding in New Orleans, and the Mississippi River in New Orleans is forecast to crest near 20 feet this Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

The Mississippi and Louisiana fishing industries are already plagued by Mississippi River flooding. The flooding caused the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway more than 100 days ago, causing freshwater to mix with saltwater, producing toxic algae bloom off the coast of Mississippi and in Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans.

Already, a majority of oysters along the coast of Louisiana and Mississippi are dead, and other seafood species have been impacted.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

LOUISIANA: Federal lawmakers join together to seek help for state seafood industry

July 9, 2019 — Our area’s Federal lawmakers in Washington DC are urging Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to help Louisiana’s fishermen.

U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and John Kennedy (R-LA) and U.S. Representatives Steve Scalise (R-LA), Garret Graves (R-LA), Cedric Richmond (D-LA), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Ralph Abraham (R-LA) and Mike Johnson (R-LA) collectively urged Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to begin the process of implementing a federal fisheries disaster declaration in because of the opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway earlier this summer.

By opening the spillway, hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of fresh water are pouring into Lake Pontchartrain every second, which is impacting aquatic life that are vital to our state’s seafood industry.

If the commerce secretary makes a determination to declare a fishery disaster, based on a NOAA Fisheries evaluation, Congress will then be allowed to appropriate funds for fishery disaster relief.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser have also contacted Secretary Ross with the same request in recent weeks.

Read the full story at The Houma Times