Federally
funded reef building activities, overseen by the Louisiana
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), are rehabilitating
sections of the state’s public oyster resources that
were impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
Public oyster reefs
in two areas - Black Bay in Plaquemines Parish (completed
in May) and Mississippi Sound in St. Bernard Parish (beginning
in June) - are being rehabilitated with approximately $2.3
million federal hurricane disaster grant funding, part of
$53 million in resource recovery funds provided by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through the
Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC).
“These initial
expenditures of federal dollars will greatly assist our efforts
to stimulate productive reef growth, and both commercial and
recreational fishing interests will see the benefit,”
said Bryant Hammett, LDWF secretary. “Our congressional
delegation and the state’s fishing industry leaders
came together quickly after the hurricanes of 2005, the recovery
funding needs were determined and today we are seeing the
results of those efforts.”
Approximately
200 acres of existing oyster reefs are being rehabilitated
in each area this spring. The process involves placing cultch
material (limestone, crushed concrete, oyster shell, etc.)
on the reefs to provide suitable substrate for larval oyster
attachment.
Approximately
$10 million is currently programmed for oyster rehabilitation
in the public oyster areas. Additional funds will be spent
in subsequent years in various public oyster areas throughout
the Louisiana coast. In addition to the $10 million for public
oyster rehabilitation, approximately $12 million is being
used to assist with rehabilitation work performed on private
oyster leases under the Private Oyster Lease Rehabilitation
(POLR) program.
The Louisiana oyster
industry in 2003 produced a harvest valued at $33.4 million
annually, supporting 3,300 jobs and generating $11 million
in tax revenue for the state.
In the September
2005 to August 2006 harvest period following Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita, the state’s oyster harvest was reduced 26
percent when compared to the five-year, pre-storm average.
That percentage is based on the 10.2 million pounds of oysters
landed post-Katrina/Rita versus the 13.8 million-pound, average
annual landings in the previous five years. The number of
jobs within the state’s oyster industry, post-Katrina/Rita,
has not yet been determined.
“The Louisiana
Fishing Community Recovery Coalition (LFCRC), working with
the assistance of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries,
assessed resource damage in the fall of 2005 and determined
recovery funding needs,” said Mike Voisin, Louisiana
Oyster Task Force Chairman and Co-Chair of the LFCRC. “The
state’s congressional leaders who worked to get us to
this point are to be commended for their efforts as we work
to rebuild the state’s fishing industry.”
Additional phases
of the fisheries resource recovery work will include removing
debris from the traditional coastal fishing grounds critical
to the state’s commercial and recreational fishing industries.
The grant also will fund monitoring programs to track both
the recovery of fishery resources as well as that of the fishing
industries.
