Saving Seafood

Study estimates recent hurricanes inflicted $579 million in damage to Louisiana fisheries

January 14, 2022 — Hurricanes over the past two seasons delivered an estimated $579 million in losses to Louisiana’s commercial fishing industry, a new state study shows.

Findings of the study, conducted by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, LSU and Louisiana Sea Grant, were released Thursday.

The study analyzes losses to infrastructure, including boats, seafood sales and fish and seafood stocks. It also projects financial losses from the past two hurricane seasons that are continuing into 2022.

Read the full story at the Daily Comet

 

Expect a busier-than-normal hurricane season, NOAA says

August 9th, 2019 –In an uptick from the preseason forecast, the Atlantic hurricane season now is expected to be above normal, with 10 to 17 named storms, including five to nine hurricanes, the Climate Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, announced Thursday.

Two to four of those hurricanes are forecast to be Category 3 or stronger, with winds greater than 110 mph, experts said, in line with the May prediction. Hurricane Barry hit Louisiana in July as a Category 1 storm.

“We expect conditions to be more favorable for storm development through the rest of the season,” Gerry Bell, the prediction center’s lead seasonal hurricane forecaster, told CNN.

The updated forecast was issued just ahead of the start of the most active hurricane period — the roughly eight weeks that surround September 10, when hurricane season hits its statistical peak.

Read the full story at CNN