The Louisiana Shrimp Task Force voiced its opposition to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s recommendation that two Mississippi River diversions be built in the Barataria and Breton basins.
CPRA executive director Kyle Graham said of four diversion plans that were being considered, the two the authority believe are going to do the most good for the dollars available are the Mid-Barataria Basin and Mid-Breton Basin designs. The Mid-Barataria diversion, which would be built near Myrtle Grove, would move 50,000 cubic feet per second of river water and sediment into the basin west of the river. The Mid-Breton, which would be north of the Mid-Barataria diversion, would distribute 35,000 cubic feet per second of sediment and fresh water into the basin east of the river.
Because these diversions would be operated during peak river flooding times, they have been seen as a threat to the fishing and seafood industries that depend on the brackish water to provide their crops.
The diversion plans are taking the chance of sacrificing the fisheries in the Barataria estuary and elsewhere for 50 years, Clint Guidry said.
What do we do? We can’t just stop and restart this industry. For the last 10 years, we’ve been fighting to keep people in this business. Between the hurricanes, the oil spills, low prices, this industry has been in a battle. After Katrina, we fought to get infrastructure back and we’re losing it every day, he said.
According to data collected by CPRA, the river diversions would have localized effects on fishing and seafood crops but crops would be trending similarly to where they would be if no action was taken on the river.
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