Louisiana seafood industry’s empty net syndrome is hitting local restaurants hard
Summer in Louisiana means blue crab season. Local consumers flock to seafood markets for boiled crabs, and chefs add crab-centric specials to their menus. It’s when the crab supply peaks and prices are at their most favorable.
This year, however, looks a lot different.
“I’ve never seen it this bad before, and I’ve been in business for 35 years,” says Louisiana Lagniappe owner Kevin Ortego, who founded the Baton Rouge location of his restaurant in 2003. “It’s never been this hard to get the kind of product we usually do. We’re going to miss the entire crab season.”
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Since the spring, not just crab, but oysters, shrimp and some finfish, have seen a sharp decline in numbers due to the influx of freshwater from heavy rains and the opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway. In late February and again in May, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the spillway to mitigate possible levee breaches from the Mississippi River remaining at flood level.
The spillway’s lengthy opening has sent an unprecedented amount of fresh water into the Pontchartrain basin, which flows east through Lake Pontchartrain, the Rigolets, Lake Borne and into the Mississippi Sound. The altered salinity has created unfavorable conditions, especially for shellfish and bivalves. The situation is being closely monitored by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, but it’s so dire that Gov. John Bel Edwards sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on June 13 asking for a federal fisheries disaster declaration.
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