Saving Seafood

US lawmakers propose new commission to support health of Mississippi River Basin

March 4, 2025 — U.S. lawmakers have introduced legislation that would create a commission to support the long-term health of fisheries along the Mississippi River Basin, as well as their habitats, water quality, and the communities that rely on them.

“Louisianians know that the Mississippi River Basin is vital to our communities, our fishermen, and our environment,” U.S. Representative Troy Carter (D-Louisiana) said in a statement. “This bill is a critical step in securing the future of this iconic waterway. By bringing together federal, state, and local partners, we can tackle the challenges of invasive species, habitat degradation, and water quality to ensure a healthy, sustainable fishery for generations to come. This commission will help preserve the extraordinary biodiversity of the basin and protect the livelihoods of countless individuals who depend on these waters for their work and way of life. I’m proud of this bipartisan effort to strengthen our economy, protect our natural resources, and ensure a thriving Mississippi River Basin for generations.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Could the Mississippi River benefit from Chesapeake Bay’s strategy to improve water quality?

June 21, 2024 — As environmental groups and policy analysts in the Mississippi River basin seek solutions to shrink a massive “dead zone” that forms off the coast of Louisiana each year, they have looked to a regional cleanup program in the Chesapeake Bay as a model.

A key component of that effort, known as the Chesapeake Bay Program, is regulation.

For nearly 15 years, it’s included a legally enforceable, multistate pollution quota — one of a select few in the nation. This “total maximum daily load” aims to reduce the amount of nutrients, like phosphorus and nitrogen, that run off into the Bay’s waters.

Too much of chemicals that derive from these elements, commonly used to grow crops and fertilize lawns, can cause algae blooms and die-offs that rob waters of oxygen and suffocate aquatic life.

But the Bay program’s scientific advisers recently noted the strategy is imperfect.

After two missed deadlines to reduce nutrient runoff, and a third looming, mid-Atlantic state and federal officials are reevaluating their options.

Read the full article at The Gazette

LOUISIANA: Louisiana breaks ground on experimental project to rebuild lost wetlands

August 12, 2023 — Over thousands of years, the Mississippi River wended its way through the lush and dense wetlands of the Barataria Basin in what’s now south-central Louisiana. As it flowed south on its way to the sea, the river continually poured sediment into the basin, gifting it with fresh, nutrient-rich river mud that replenished the land and prevented coastal erosion. But 20th-century innovations like dams and levees stopped the river’s natural systems. This, in combination with recent sea-level rise and the constant battering of supercharged hurricane seasons, means the sea now gnaws steadily at the bottom of the state, causing gradual but catastrophic land loss. Since 1932, the Barataria has lost 17 percent of its land. It’s predicted to lose another 200-plus square miles in the next 20 years.

To combat this, Louisiana officials broke ground Thursday on an ambitious, $2.92 billion project to divert sediment from the Mississippi River into the basin, mimicking the natural processes of the river’s flow in an attempt to save the state’s disappearing coast. The initiative is the first step in Louisiana’s $50 billion Coastal Master Plan, funded in part by a lawsuit settlement from the devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. Though many laud the project, some worry it will harm existing wildlife in the basin, while taking a very long time to do its work.

The main event for the mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Project will be “punching a hole in the levee” that prevents the Mississippi River from regularly overflowing its banks and changing course, said Bren Haase, the chair of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. The project involves installing a complex gate structure through the Mississippi River’s levee, allowing some water to flow into a channel, which will then empty out over the basin and wash into the sea, carrying mud, silt, and clay with it to create new land. It’ll take five years to build. Over 50 years, the diversion project should add 21 square miles of land to the basin, according to Haase.

Read the full article at Grist

Cancer Spreading Through Louisiana Waterways Could Be Eradicated By Mouth

March 2, 2022 — A silent and deadly cancer is spreading throughout the bayous and rivers of Louisiana; as well as Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri all the way to Illinois, Minnesota and the gates of the Great Lakes. Asian carp has overtaken the Mississippi River System threatening the ecosystem, as well as multi-million dollar recreational and commercial fishing industries.

“All our rivers and bayous are connected to the Mississippi, and they all have Asian Carp,” said Baton Rouge Chef Philippe Parola, who for more than 10-years has made it his mission to find a solution to the ever-widening problem.  “Our problem is nobody really cares and there is no way to eradicate them.”

These insatiable giants were first imported in the 1970s to remove algae from ponds, but were displaced by flooding and spilled into the waterways where they now crowd out favorites like catfish, shrimp and buffalo fish.

Eye On Asian Carp

The Bayou Chef has had his eye on the Asian carp situation since Hurricane Katrina and he is not been shy about expressing his frustration over the slow bureaucracy of addressing the serious threat to the ecosystem.  He feels it is imperative to be proactive in handling the problem and has come up with what he feels is a solution.

Read the full story at Gulf Seafood News

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

NOAA announces higher-than-forecasted Gulf of Mexico “dead zone”

August 5, 2021 — NOAA announced on Tuesday, 3 August that its scientists have determined the size of this year’s “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico to be more than 6,300 square miles, a figure that’s both above the recent average and well above what officials initially forecasted in June.

The “dead zone” is term applied to the hypoxic zone that is annually established in the Gulf of Mexico. Fed by agricultural runoff, the Mississippi River dumps nutrient-rich water into the gulf, leading to algae growth during the spring and summer months. As that dies and sinks to the bottom, bacteria decay the algae but also consume oxygen in the process, resulting in an area of the ocean that is considered unsustainable for marine life.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

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

LDWF Seeks Public Input on Draft of Louisiana Oyster Management and Rehabilitation Strategic Plan

November 24, 2020 — The following was released by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries:

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) is seeking public comment from all coastal stakeholders regarding its draft “Louisiana Oyster Management and Rehabilitation Strategic Plan.”

The LDWF Office of Fisheries is responsible for the protection, conservation and replenishment of Louisiana’s renewable, aquatic natural resources, including Louisiana oysters.  In the wake of Louisiana’s recent man-made and natural disasters, this crucial task has never been as important as it is today.

The 2019 oyster stock assessment indicates that Louisiana is experiencing the lowest stock size in the public oyster areas ever recorded, according to the Strategic Plan draft. The decline, according to the draft, is not a result of any single event, but reflects the effects of a myriad of population stressors. Those include changes in hydrology, extreme weather events, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill/response activities, harvest pressure, and most notably, the 2018-2019 Mississippi River flooding event.

“This plan contains initiatives that have the potential to assist in the oyster rehabilitation process,” said Patrick Banks, LDWF Assistant Secretary for Fisheries. “It can increase the productivity and viability of the public oyster areas in Louisiana, aid the oyster industry in adjusting to a changing coast, and allow the industry to be sustainable into the future.”

Gov. John Bel Edwards’ office directed LDWF to begin developing the plan in 2019. The Louisiana Legislature further instructed LDWF through the passage of Senate Concurrent Resolution 56 during the 2020 legislative session.

Members of the Louisiana Oyster Task Force, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), and the Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities assisted in the development of the plan draft. Additionally, CPRA committed significant funding to help LDWF implement initiatives in the plan.

“CPRA is proud to be a part of this strategic plan to assist the oyster industry and the oyster resource itself,” said CPRA Executive Director Bren Haase. “This is an important part of our central mission, the implementation of projects that benefit our coastal habitats as well as our working coast.”

According to the draft, it will cost approximately $132.3 million to fund all initiatives in the plan, which will take an estimated five years, at a minimum, to implement.

The 17-page plan is available at: https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/assets/Resources/Publications/Oyster/Oyster-Strategic-Plan—Public-Notice-Draft.pdf

LDWF will assemble and consider comments submitted by December 4, 2020, and will finalize the plan document for submission to the Governor’s Office and the Legislature later this year.   Comments can be submitted via email to Carolina Bourque, LDWF Oyster Program Manager, at cbourque@wlf.la.gov or by regular mail to Carolina Bourque, P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA 70898.

Millions of plastic pellets are flowing into Gulf

August 20, 2020 — It’s been more than two weeks since a cargo ship in New Orleans spilled millions – possibly billions – of tiny plastic pellets into the Mississippi River, but state and federal agencies have issued no penalties and are not yet sure who’s responsible for the mess or which agency, if any, should clean it up.

Meanwhile, the white pellets, commonly called “nurdles,” a raw material for producing plastic products, continue to wash up on both banks of the river and will eventually flow out to sea, where they’ll likely be eaten by fish and other marine life, said Mark Benfield, an oceanographer and plastic pollution expert at LSU.

“By the time the agencies get around to determining who’s responsible, it’ll be too late,” he said. “It’ll all be in the Gulf of Mexico.”

Large quantities of nurdles have washed up in Gretna, Algiers Point, Crescent Park in Bywater and the Chalmette Battlefield in St. Bernard Parish. In a one-square-foot quadrant of Crescent Park, Benfield estimated as many as 49,500 nurdles.

Read the full story at Houma Today