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Man, we could have a lengthy, lengthy discussion about this topic! There are a lot of strong opinions about the diversions and barriers, and I have mixed feelings.
Selfishly, I’m all for the barrier in the rigolets and chef pass. I live on a bayou near the Tchefuncte, and I flooded during Ida. I’m not interested in going through that again.
As far as the mid barataria diversion….damned if you do, damned if you don’t. The land loss out there has been horrendous. I grew up fishing in plaquemines parish. Empire used to have so much marsh that we could fish in the morning, then hunt rabbits in the middle of the day. Now it’s almost all open gulf. If we don’t do something now, there will be nothing left after a few good storms.
On the flip side of the coin, I also used to fish on the east side of the river through the ostrica locks. We would HAMMER the trout in Bay Le Mer and Quarantine Bay, it was a 5 minute run from the launch. Once that channel right next to the locks opened up and started dumping river water, we never caught another trout in that area. BUT we also started running aground and hitting mud flats that were never there until that channel opened.
It’s a tough pill to swallow and there’s no “good” solution in my opinion. As much as it’s going to hurt the fishing and change the ecology of the barataria basin, I don’t know if we have a choice. We’re fighting a war of attrition, or as my environmental engineer buddy told me…it’s a managed retreat.
