On August 28, Commerce Secretary William Daley announced that $3.5 million in federal funds will be provided to the Gulf states to help restore the Louisiana and Mississippi brown shrimp fisheries damaged by the 1997 Mississippi River floods and for research to study and predict damaging red tides in the region. Daley explained that part of the funds will help "restore the fisheries and prevent future failures while the remainder of the funds will be allocated among the five Gulf states for the research program to study red tides."

The National Marine Fisheries Service determined the brown shrimp commercial fishery failure was due to a resource disaster caused by Mississippi River flooding that forced the prolonged flow of large volumes of fresh water into Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, and the fresh water flooding into Mississippi coastal waters from the opening of Bonnet Carre Spillway to control flooding. Both events caused the death and displacement of brown shrimp as well as non-commercial marine species. The agency determined the extremely steep decline in brown shrimp caused losses of more than $1 million to fishermen of each state.

As a result, the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission formally requested emergency relief on behalf of the states in October 1997, under Section 312(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The Fisheries Service proposes to provide up to a total of $2.05 million to Louisiana and Mississippi to address the brown shrimp fishery failure under the Act. The Commerce Department proposes to allocate the remaining funds among the Gulf states for red tide research, including remote monitoring of coastal areas, field testing, and consumer education, contingent upon a 25% funding match from the states.

The Commerce Secretary announced the federal aid proposal as he led commissioning activities for the second largest fisheries research ship in the United States, the Gordon Gunter. Named in honor of one of the Gulf region's most eminent marine scientists, the Gordon Gunter will serve the Southeast Fisheries Science Center of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service by conducting scientific surveys and collecting data on the health and abundance of fishery resources in the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. After commissioning, the Gordon Gunter will conduct a SEAMAP (Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program) ichthyoplankton and marine mammal survey. The ship will collect fish eggs and larvae and observe and monitor marine mammals in the Gulf of Mexico. In his address, Daley noted that the ship will help "ensure that we have a consistent and reliable source of solid data." The ship's home port will be at the Fisheries Service's Mississippi Laboratories in Pascagoula.

Adapted from a Press Release of NOAA Constituent Affairs.
 

University of Mississippi