Opening of Bonnet Carre Spillway impacts Gulf Coast

The opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway in Louisiana has had disastrous impacts on our local fishing industry, according to local fishermen.

This morning, a viewer sent us this photo he took of a dolphin washed up on Gulfport beach, just east of Jones Park. He says the dolphin could possibly be pregnant. Experts say just in the month of April they’ve seen the highest number of both dolphins and turtles die off compared to the last five years. That’s 28 dolphins and 73 turtles just last month. The salinity of the water is extremely low due to recent rainfall in our area. We spoke with Dr. Moby Solangi with the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies about this issue and he says it is a crisis for our Gulf Coast. Even comparing it to the disasters we saw after BP oil spill. He says the Bonnet Carre Spillway shouldn’t be our only concern, but also Lake Pontchartrain.

Moby Solangi says, “All of the fresh water and polutants are then slowly released and continually released even when the Bonnet Carre spillway is closed and so it is the largest number of days that this spillway has been open in almost 80 year. It is a crisis.”

Solangi says there are some things you can do to help. Write to your Mississippi politicians to get their attention on this issue. He says nothing is going to get better for our marine life until representatives from Mississippi and Louisiana sit down for a solution.