More help is on the way for those impacted by multiple openings of the Bonnet Carré Spillway, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) reports.
The 2019 Mississippi Bonnet Carré Spillway Fisheries Disaster Recovery Program financial assistance applications for commercial fisheries and charter boat participants will reopen on October 28 at 8 a.m. for new applicants only.
Anyone who received funds in the previous opening of the direct financial assistance program is not eligible to receive funds from this current program.
Applicants must be Mississippi residents 18 years or older and have possessed a valid Mississippi resident commercial fishing or dealer license in the 2019 calendar year with MDMR documented landings, verified by MDMR through trip tickets during the following five historical years 2014-2018.
To qualify as a dealer, applicants must have been in possession of an active dealer license in 2019, and have purchased seafood from an active Mississippi commercial fisherman between 2014 and 2018 — records of these transactions must be present in the MDMR trip ticket database. Only brick-and-mortar seafood dealers are eligible.
Eligible Mississippi resident charter boat captains must be 18 years or older and possess a valid Mississippi resident charter boat license for the 2019 calendar year and at least one of the previous five years (2014-2018).
If applying as a business, it shall be organized under the laws of the state of Mississippi, registered with the Secretary of State’s Office, and be housed in Mississippi.
Applications will be open for 30 days and close on Tuesday, November 26 at 11:59 p.m. No late applications will be considered and no appeals will be allowed if the deadline is missed. Funding allocation has been structured so that only applications submitted by the deadline will be considered.
The following information will be needed for the application process:
- Contact information
- Valid email address
- All applicable 2019 calendar year fishing or dealer license numbers
- Date of birth
- Social security number or employer ID tax number.
- A W-9 form, incorporated into the application, will also be required for payment, and retained by MDMR.
More information can be found here.
Backstory
In 2019, Mississippi River levels were predicted to rise to a minor flood stage in New Orleans. The Bonnet Carré Spillway was opened on February 27 and again on May 10 for a total of 123 days. The Spillway had never been opened twice in one year and never for such a long period.
Polluted water from the Spillway is believed to have killed more than 90% of oysters on Mississippi harvest reefs. Shrimp landings were reduced by 50% due to large quantities of fresh water from the Mississippi River being introduced into the Mississippi Sound.
This prompted a lawsuit filed by an alliance of local governments, businesses, and organizations — the Mississippi Sound Coalition. A federal court sided with the alliance and ruled that the openings of the Bonnet Carré Spillway did, in fact, harm marine life in the region.
As a result, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was ordered to consult with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration before reopening the spillway to avoid further damage to marine species.
MDMR opened its first round of financial assistance applications due to the 2019 blunder in August 2023 and dished out roughly $6.57 million to eligible commercial fishermen and dealers.
