Keith Lusher It’s the cold hard truth that folks here in South Louisiana are often forced to choose between coastal wetland preservation and their favorite fishing holes. More than often the discussion often ends with the words “But, I can understand both sides of the argument.” Shane Green has been fishing the ponds in the Bayou Savage area for for a few years now and witnessed an unsettling site on his last redfish trip to the marsh. “Saturday morning I got up early and made it to the launch at Mr. Eddy’s (Sonny) right at sunrise. I Headed out near the south shoreline by the rocks where I’d been absolutely killing it, getting 10-15 reds each trip,” Shane says. With the winds changing over to the north west, Shane says the water was considerably muddier than on previous trips, so he decided to try and find cleaner water. “After managing only one lonely red and a barely legal speck, I was determined to find clean water,” Green says. So he headed to Irish Bayou and the marsh along Chef Pass. “It was the same deal there - muddy water,” the dejected angler added.
Shane then decided head back into Bayou Savage where he spotted something oddly out of place. It was a barge in Chico Lagoon. After further investigation, Shane says he could see them dredging the lagoon. Heartbroken, he made his way back to the launch and on his way home began making phone calls. Upon returning hime, he continued his research and found what he had witnessed was the Army Corps of Engineers’ mitigation effort for the Hurricane Storm Damage Risk Reduction System. The project aims to restore marsh in existing shallow open water areas by “borrow dredging” in a designated borrow pit within Lake Pontchartrain. In addition to dredging, there are some other steps being taken to insure marsh development, including a retention dike construction along the perimeter of the proposed marsh creation areas and the construction of bulkheads within this site. “I’m disgusted to see this. Basically, all of the skinny flats in the interior of Bayou Savage will be gone. I count on that area for some hella good fall and winter fishing. The hardest part of this is that I've fished that area for the last two years and logged all my trips. Now all that work gets thrown down the drain, Green says. Northfolk Dredging Company was awarded the job at an estimated cost of between $10,000,000 - $25,000,000 and is estimated to take 8 months to complete, which will affect hunters that use the ponds for duck hunting. Northfolk says it has no plans to stop the project for hunting season. “I understand why they are doing this, they are trying to strengthen the marsh for future hurricanes - But at the expense of us fisherman who love the Marsh the way it is. Guess I'll have to start exploring elsewhere,” Shane concedes.
A map shows three of the fill sites along with the barrow site
