Saving Seafood

After 2019 Mississippi River flood, Louisiana fishers might soon see disaster relief

February 22, 2022 — Louisiana fishers might soon see federal disaster relief more than two years after the unprecedented flooding of 2019 — now considered the longest flood on record — devastated much of the commercial industry.

For more than four months, freshwater was diverted through the Bonnet Carre Spillway to relieve pressure on the levees along the Mississippi River. In that time, the influx of river water killed millions of pounds of oysters and disrupted the balance required for species like shrimp, crab or menhaden to thrive. Fertilizers in the water created pockets of hypoxia, or “dead zones,” and harmful algal blooms.

Distribution of $58 million through several state grant programs could begin as early as June, should the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration approve the spending plan drafted by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Relief for a flood that cost fishers at least $101 million in lost revenue has been slow, delayed after several more disasters struck the industry, including the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

Read the full story at WWNO

Mississippi finalizes plans for $21M in fishery relief

April 23, 2021 — Mississippi is finalizing its plans for allocating $21 million in federal relief for fishing industries harmed by the 2019 opening of a Mississippi River spillway in Louisiana.

The money is supposed to go to businesses that were hurt by the spillway opening. It will also be used to improve oyster harvesting in Mississippi and seek ways to offset future openings of the Bonnet Carre Spillway north of New Orleans.

The spillway sends freshwater through Lake Pontchartrain and into the Mississippi Sound, which can kill oysters, shrimp and other marine species.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Myarklamiss.com

Pandemic stresses already-challenged Louisiana seafood industry

March 16, 2021 — The limitations placed on dining, workplaces and businesses to curb the spread of the coronavirus are just the latest in a string of hard hits for the Louisiana’s seafood industry, which has faced one problem after another in the last few years.

As Business Report details in a new feature, the industry was already battling competition from foreign imports, which undercut prices and inspired the Louisiana Legislature in 2019 to pass a seafood labelling law requiring restaurant menus to label whether shrimp and crawfish are of Louisiana origin.

In 2019, the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway for 123 days released an influx of freshwater from the Mississippi River into oyster-harvesting areas, decimating the supply. Add to that, the 2020 hurricane season, in which the state’s fertile waters and seafood farms faced off against five named landfalling storms.

Read the full story at Business Report

Wicker and Palazzo announce $21.3M Fishery Disaster Relief Fund for Mississippi

May 19, 2020 — U.S. Senator Roger Wicker and Rep. Steven Palazzo announced the allocation of $21,311,804 in federal fishery disaster relief funds to Mississippi. The U.S. Department of Commerce aid is being distributed in response to a prolonged period of freshwater inundation into the Gulf of Mexico that devastated Gulf Coast fisheries last year. The funds will be distributed by the state to cover losses by fishermen, aquaculture businesses, and seafood processors.

“These funds are welcome news for the many fishermen who suffered through last year’s unprecedented opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway, but our state deserves a long-term solution to disasters like these. I am working to reform the disaster relief process so that funds can be distributed quickly and directly to the people who need them most. I am also pushing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consider alternatives to opening the Bonnet Carré Spillway so that we can minimize the risk of these disasters in the future,” said Wicker.

“These funds will begin supporting the ongoing recovery efforts from the devastation caused by the extended opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway last year. While we appreciate this assistance in our recovery, we must reform the way federal fisheries disasters are evaluated and approved,” said Palazzo. “As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I remain committed to allocating resources that will help restore our way of life in south Mississippi.”

Read the full story at WJTV

Disaster funding granted to Gulf of Mexico fisheries hit by spillway opening

May 18, 2020 — U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the allocation of USD 88 million (EUR 80.6 million) in disaster-relief funding to Gulf of Mexico fisheries in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi to counter the impacts of the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway.

The Bonnet Carre Spillway is a flood control system for the Lower Mississippi Valley, with its opening releasing massive amounts of freshwater from the river into the Gulf of Mexico. In April, the spillway was opened for the third straight year, something that has never happened in the spillway’s history.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Coast Shrimpers Cling to Legacy Through the Industry’s Choppy Waters

May 4, 2020 — Danny Ross, an Ocean Springs shrimper, has been on a boat for as long as he could walk. He remembers driving the family vessel as a kid, having to climb onto the dashboard to see over the steering wheel. “Two spokes to the left,” his dad would direct. He remembers, back on land, getting bad grades in art class because he would only draw one thing.

“I’d draw a pretty good boat too,” he said. “Me and my brothers were always on the boat. The rigging, the pipes – that was our jungle gym. And our swimming pool? The boat would be shrimping and we’d be diving off the bow, catching ropes on the outrivers.”

Ross, 55, recently tied up his boat after a disappointing season that saw fresh water kill 56 percent of Mississippi’s shrimp. The plummeting price of shrimp has made it difficult for Ross to find crew members, and instead he’s gone to work on another captain’s boat. After following five generations of fishermen into the business, he’s worried about the direction the industry is headed in.

“All these people, they came over here as immigrants, and they built fishing boats. Now, there’s nobody left to step into my shoes,” Ross said.

Read the full story at the Pulitzer Center

A Flood of Catastrophe: How a Warming Climate and the Bonnet Carré Spillway Threaten the Survival of Coast Fishermen

May 1, 2020 — On a warm, sunny September morning, bait salesman Roscoe Liebig scanned the harbor’s vacant piers and shook his head in disgust. Liebig recalled his usual surroundings: a full parking lot, a line of fishermen hooking their bait, and oysters peaking out in a low tide. That day, all of it was gone.

In a typical year, he’d be outside peddling his shrimp and croakers, a type of bait fish, to fishermen passing by.

“This is catastrophic,” he said. Referencing another historic disaster, Liebig put 2019 in perspective: “BP could blow up a well and you’d do better than this. It’s a dying freaking industry, and this is just the icing on the cake.”

Inside “Roscoe’s Live Bait Works,” sitting on a barge in the Mississippi Sound, Liebig grows restless as he reviews his finances. Sales are down sharply from the previous year, and he worries that making even a small repair or upgrade to his boat could break the bank.

Read the full story at the Pulitzer Center

LOUISIANA: Purchasing local seafood is as important, easy as ever Gov. Edwards says

April 8, 2020 — Governor John Bel Edwards recommended Louisiana residents use an online source to find local seafood to support fishermen in the state during the coronavirus crisis.

During the Tuesday afternoon COVID-19 conference, Gov. Edwards said local businesses need your support now more than ever.

“I encourage everyone who is going to go out and buying seafood, purchase seafood that was caught in Louisiana by Louisiana fishermen, or packaged here, or produced here,” Edwards said Tuesday afternoon.

“The state’s fishing industry is still reeling from last year, which was particularly tough with the multiple openings of the Bonnet Carre Spillway and the floodwaters that put too much freshwater in certain areas of the state,” Edwards said.

Louisiana Direct Seafood is a website now available to make finding fresh, local seafood easy for residents.

Read the full story at WBRZ

Congressman requests $100M in fisheries disaster assistance to be allocated to Louisiana after record-setting opening of Bonnet Carre Spillway

February 28, 2020 — Congressman Garret Graves has written a letter to the National Oceanic an Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) asking them to allocated the remaining $100 million in fisheries disaster assistance to Louisiana to go towards mitigating the impacts of the recent openings of the Bonnet Carre Spillway.

This comes after NOAA announced Thursday, Feb. 27 that several states that experienced catastrophic fishery losses after Hurricane Michael would receive $65 million.

“Boiled shrimp. Boiled crabs. A dozen oysters on a platter. These delicacies feed Louisiana, the country, and the world. But yet we will find a way to bite the hand that feeds,” Graves said. “Louisiana is still hurting from losses to our fisheries after the opening of the spillway. Fisheries in south Louisiana are engines of local economies, employing both commercial and recreational fishermen, processors, marinas, supportive maritime industries, and restaurants. However, this isn’t just about jobs, it’s about generations of Cajun and Creole culture being threatened by the impacts of disasters.”

Read the full story at WAFB

Long road to relief: Mississippi oystermen slated for $1 million in disaster checks

February 21, 2020 — Oysters are having a moment, if you haven’t noticed. Even small towns are getting oyster bars, and national demand has skyrocketed.

But down on the Gulf Coast, oystermen (and blue crab fishermen) have spent the last decade struggling to stay afloat in the face of massive freshwater runoff events when the Army Corps of Engineers opens the Bonnet Carré Spillway to spare New Orleans infrastructure from floodwaters.

“The spillway openings had a devastating effect on our fisheries in 2011, 2016, 2018, and two in 2019,” says Ryan Bradley, executive director of Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United and a 2018 NF Highliner. “And the only time disasters were declared was 2011 and now 2019.”

A freshwater spillover shocks nearshore oyster stocks with a sudden and deadly change in salinity. That water quality change also affects young crab. Fisheries advocates were able to win a congressional disaster declaration for the 2011 losses to the oyster and blue crab fisheries.

Read the full story at National Fisherman