Coastal Erosion In South Louisiana

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To be able to come up with solutions to save the disappearing coast, first, one must know what coastal erosion is and the causes of it. Costal erosion is a natural occurring process that wears away land and removes sediment from the coast. (Wernick) If it is a natural occurring process, then, why is it causing south Louisiana to disappear? The root of the problem is the Mississippi River. Since the beginning of time, the Mississippi River has always flooded. When the river would flood, it would build up the sediment it lost from coastal erosion. (Williams) After the Great Flood of 1927, no one wanted the river to flood again. To prevent another Great Flood, the Army Corps of Engineers were called in to create and build a levee system. (Marshall) …show more content…
In other words, “Louisiana is losing twenty-five to thirty-five square miles per year, and the highest rates are occurring in the Barataria and Terrebonne basins at ten and eleven square miles per …show more content…
(Restore) To start off, Louisiana produces twenty-four percent of U.S. natural gas and oil production, and twenty thousand of miles in Louisiana’s marsh contains and protects these pipelines. (Restore) If coastal erosion is not fixed, then, the U.S. will have to find another source for oil and natural gas. Another major industry that Louisiana has is the seafood industry, which includes the annual harvests of oysters, shrimp, crabs, crawfish, red snapper, wild catfish, sea trout, mullet, etc. Louisiana provides twenty-five to thirty-five percent of the nation’s total catch. (Restore) Therefore, this is no longer just a state problem. “Louisiana’s coastal erosion problem is a national problem”, Tidwell explains. Tidwell goes on to explain that although many people nationwide do not know about Louisiana’s coastal erosion problem, the majority of south Louisiana residents do not know about the growing problem either. The reason why this is happening is because coastal erosion is either not seen as a problem or not publicized enough. When Tidwell visited Louisiana, he interviewed many people about the coastal erosion problem, and he got their opinions on the matter. He interviewed some of the local shrimpers and fisherman, and he asked them if they are worried about the coastal erosion problem. Tidwell got some mixed answers, but the majority of the
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