NEWSROOM
State
Agency Collaboration Keeps Oyster Harvest Safe
March
19, 2008
The Louisiana Department
of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) worked cooperatively with the
Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (LDHH) to replace
boats and laboratory equipment damaged by the hurricanes of 2005.
LDHH’s Molluscan Shellfish Program uses this equipment to
monitor water quality in approximately 800 coastal locations to
ensure that water quality is safe for shellfish harvesting.
“We are very
pleased that we could assist LDHH with the important work that
they do with respect to the monitoring of water quality for oyster
harvest,” said LDWF Secretary Robert Barham. “Our
agencies work hand-in-hand in oyster management, so it made sense
to provide funds that would facilitate renewed shellfish harvest
in closed areas.”
The funding for replacement
equipment came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), which supplied approximately $203,000 in federal hurricane
disaster funds. The NOAA disaster funds, passed to LDWF through
the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, allowed LDHH to quickly
replace and repair necessary equipment so that monitoring of coastal
waters would not be interrupted.
Four 20-foot vessels
and necessary laboratory equipment were purchased with grant funds,
allowing LDHH to maintain monitoring at full capacity following
the storms. Funds were also used to update LDHH’s mapping
technology to produce more accurate seasonal classification maps
of open (safe) and closed (unhealthy) shellfish growing waters.
These needs were identified by the Louisiana Oyster Task Force
in their Louisiana Oyster Recovery Plan published in December
2005.
Without this necessary
equipment, extended closures of oyster harvesting areas would
have resulted. Because oyster harvest from open areas of Louisiana
accounted for approximately $36 million in dockside sales in 2006,
these extended closures would have been devastating to the state
economy.
“The disaster
funds were critical to the recovery of this vital public health
program and consumer confidence in the Louisiana oyster,”
said LDHH Secretary Alan Levine. “Without the ability to
continue our classification of oyster growing areas, necessary
closures would have greatly impacted the economic viability of
the industry.”
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