Year after year after year, the Gulf of Mexico seafood community has been drowning in one disaster after another with little relief from the government agencies. Now, the floodgates are about to open, drowning all hopes that this year will be any different from years past.
As a result of record flooding in the central United States, the gates of the Morganza Spillway are set to send fresh water into a fragile ecosystem that is home to a wide variety of Gulf seafood. Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser, the Gulf Seafood Foundation and other Gulf-wide organizations are calling for Gulf State governors to make a coordinated request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to declare a state of emergency existing specific to Gulf seafood and its related industries.
Nungesser, whose office oversees the State’s Louisiana’s Seafood Board, and the Gulf Seafood Foundation have worked closely to form a Gulf-wide coalition consisting of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance, Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, Texas Shrimp Association, Oyster South, Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United, Port Arthur Area Shrimpers Association and the Louisiana Crawfish Task Force.
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