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Gulf Coast seafood biz slammed by freshwater from floods
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FILE – In this May 20, 2010 file photo, a shrimp boat carrying oil collection booms anchors for the night in Gulf of Mexico off the Mississippi River delta south of Venice, La. It will be months before state officials know whether losses from floods and spillway openings qualify Louisiana as a fisheries disaster. Department of Wildlife and Fisheries officials say floods began around November 2018, and a full 12 months’ data is needed to compare to averages for the previous 5 years. The governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama asked months ago for US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to declare a fisheries disaster, making federal grants available to affected people. lessFILE – In this May 20, 2010 file photo, a shrimp boat carrying oil collection booms anchors for the night in Gulf of Mexico off the Mississippi River delta south of Venice, La. It will be months before state … more
Photo: Charlie Riedel, AP
FILE – In this May 20, 2010 file photo, a shrimp boat carrying oil collection booms anchors for the night in Gulf of Mexico off the Mississippi River delta south of Venice, La. It will be months before state officials know whether losses from floods and spillway openings qualify Louisiana as a fisheries disaster. Department of Wildlife and Fisheries officials say floods began around November 2018, and a full 12 months’ data is needed to compare to averages for the previous 5 years. The governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama asked months ago for US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to declare a fisheries disaster, making federal grants available to affected people. less
FILE – In this May 20, 2010 file photo, a shrimp boat carrying oil collection booms anchors for the night in Gulf of Mexico off the Mississippi River delta south of Venice, La. It will be months before state … more
Photo: Charlie Riedel, AP
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Fresh water from Midwestern floods has killed oysters along the coasts of three states and cost Mississippi half of its blue crabs.
The head of Mississippi’s Department of Marine Resources says water that came through a Louisiana spillway killed 95 percent of the oysters in his part of the Mississippi Sound and fed toxic algae blooms. Joe Spraggins says seafood and tourism businesses have lost $120 million to $140 million.
The governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama asked months ago for U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to declare a fisheries disaster. That designation would allow federal grants to those whose livelihoods were affected.
Alabama canceled its oyster season.
A Louisiana fisheries official says it will be months before he has all the figures needed to say which fisheries qualify.