Gulf Coast seafood biz slammed by freshwater from floods

NEW ORLEANS — 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 say water that came through a Louisiana spillway killed 95 per cent 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 cancelled its oyster season.

A Louisiana fisheries official says it will be months before he has all the figures needed to say which fisheries qualify.

Janet McConnaughey, The Associated Press



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