Coast Fishermen Breathe Easy as USACE Decides Against Opening Bonnet Carrière Spillway

By Joglo Lawasan June 18, 2025 Post a Comment

PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. (WLOX) – According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Mississippi River must reach a flow rate of 1.25 million cubic feet per second before activating the Bonnet Carré Spillway. Nevertheless, the river is peaking earlier than anticipated, reducing the necessity for flood-control measures.

That’s great news for Roscoe Liebig, who is a fisherman at the Pass Christian Harbor.

Liebig states that he wishes to avoid revisiting the experiences of the 2019 and 2020 openings. Having a sealed spillway would provide him with an abundance of oysters as well as increased business for the rest of the oyster season.

"Our oyster reef has finally recovered, but if this situation had occurred around 2019, it would have wiped them out once more," Liebig stated.

He recalls how those inflows poured new water into the Mississippi Sound, leading to the collapse of the oyster and shrimp industries along the coast.

It was awful; it completely ruined our reefs," he stated. "We couldn't even keep baitfish alive in this harbor.

Fisherman Michael Sevel is equally pleased to learn that the spillway won’t be opened.

“You couldn’t catch anything but hardhead catfish within 20 miles of here,” Sevel said. “It could’ve destroyed our season completely. It’s already been bad enough with the prices and stuff.”

The U.S. Department of Commerce provided almost $3 million in federal disaster aid to assist the recovery of Mississippi’s oyster and shrimp fishing industries.

Applications for financial aid aimed at supporting commercial shrimp and wild oyster license holders will become available this coming Friday, May 2. These application periods will stay open for a total of 60 days before closing on Monday, July 1.

To learn more about the applications, check out dmr.ms.gov.

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