The 2019 opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway cost the Mississippi Coast hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars, a scenario likely to repeat itself and endanger a seafood industry that has been vital to the economy and culture, a study from Mississippi State University concludes.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opens the spillway to prevent the Mississippi River from flooding New Orleans. The polluted river water pours into Lake Pontchartrain and, eventually, the Mississippi Sound, lowering salinity to intolerable levels for oysters, shrimp, fish and dolphins. The river, which drains 41% of the continental U.S., is also laden with nutrients from agricultural operations, creating toxic algae blooms and closing Coast waters to fishing and swimming.
