View full sizeScott Gordon, Shellfish Bureau Manager for the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, discusses the state's osyter reefs Tuesday a meeting of the Commission on Marine Resources. (Harlan Kirgan/Press-Register)BILOXI, Mississippi -- A federal fisheries disaster is being sought for Mississippi's oyster industry, announced William Walker, executive director of the state Department of Marine Resources on Tuesday at a state Commission on Marine Resources meeting.
The state's oyster reefs, located mostly in the state's western waters, were decimated by freshwater pumped through the Bonnet Carre Spillway to relieve flooding in the Mississippi River.
Oyster mortality rates on the reefs are estimated from 85 to 100 percent.
The state's 12,000 acres of oyster reefs generated commercial landings valued at $4.27 million in 2010.
Commissioners voted to allow Walker to decide on an oyster season in waters between the railroad bridge and U.S. 90 bridge at Bay St. Louis that survived the freshwater onslaught.
The meeting also was marked by shrimpers complaining that their season collapsed in July.
"I don't know why that this year there is no shrimp," said Chuon Phan. "From about July, no shrimp."
Steve Bosarge, a commission member and commercial shrimper, said, "Mr. Phan you are not the first one that said the same thing to me. Talking to a lot of different folks within the community and a lot of old-time fishermen they say, 'Yes, it is as bad as they've seen it.'"
Mark Stewart, a fisherman, said, "For at least 21/2 months, I haven't been able to make a dollar anywhere on this coast."
Stewart said he might catch shrimp one night and none the next.
"What's going on?" he asked along what is being done to help fishermen.
Walker said, "Mark, I'll just say this. We have petitioned the secretary of commerce to declare a federal fisheries disaster for oysters involved in the freshwater flood through the Bonnet Carre. That is being considered. I'm hopeful in a week perhaps that a decision will be made at NOAA's southeast regional office."
A disaster declaration would open the way for federal assistance, he said.
One project being considered is to pay fishermen to move oysters from reefs unaffected by the freshwater to repopulate those that were affected, he said.
During a break in the meeting, Bosarge said beginning mid-July there "very few shrimp" from about the Alabama-Florida state line to mid-Louisiana.
"We've had so many environmental abnormalities - Mississippi River, BP oil spill - who knows?" he said. "There is something happening in that there are conditions now, especially in the states of Mississippi and Alabama in the inshore waters, that we've never seen before."