Tag Archives: Lake Pontchartrain
Shrimp boat found capsized in Lake Pontchartrain; 1 dead, 1 injured
U.S. Coast Guard members found a capsized shrimp boat with two boaters, one dead and one injured in Lake Pontchartrain Thursday morning, according to a social media post by the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office. The boat was found between the Interstate 10 twin span bridges near the St. Tammany-Orleans parish line, according to the post. The Sheriff’s Office Marine Division was notified at 5:15 a.m. that a 21-foot blue shrimping skiff that was seen launching at about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday at the Pointe Marina in Slidell was overdue to return, with the truck and boat trailer still at the marina. >click to read< 12:25
LDWF Agents Investigating Boating Fatality in St. Tammany Parish – Victim Identified. The body of Ricky Hodgson, 72, of Pearl River, was recovered from Lake Pontchartrain around 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 22. Agents learned that Hodgson and another passenger on the boat were recreationally trawling for shrimp in Lake Pontchartrain near the twinspans when their trawl was stuck around midnight. >click to read< 17:15
Big white shrimp return to Lake Pontchartrain in big numbers
People who like big shrimp are rejoicing. That’s because some of the biggest white shrimp many have seen are now showing up in Lake Pontchartrain. Old-timers say it’s like the good all days. Shrimp like they’ve never seen before in Lake Pontchartrain instead of offshore, and they credit a number of factors. “These shrimp are primo the best we’ve seen around here since 2010,” said shrimper Paul Newton, >Video, click to read< 11:42
The power to open Bonnet Carré spillway rests 200 miles from ‘struggling’ Gulf Coast
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opens the Bonnet Carré to prevent Mississippi River flooding in New Orleans, but Coast residents on less populated shores of South Mississippi and Louisiana feel the fallout. The fresh, polluted water floods Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi Sound. For the first time in history, the spillway has opened two years in a row — 2018 and 2019 — and two times in one year — 2019. Dolphins and oysters are dying. Shrimp are disappearing. Fish are covered in lesions. And the oxygen-starved Dead Zone, documented annually in the Gulf of Mexico, is expected this summer to be the size of Massachusetts, which is close to the 2017 record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says. Video, photo’s >click to read<10:23
Mississippi Gulf Coast fishermen struggling as flooding disaster wipes out marine life
The Mississippi Gulf Coast is now bearing the effects of the record rain and snowmelt that has caused major flooding throughout the Midwest this year. The influx of water that has drained into the Mississippi River and is now being diverted into the gulf coast has wreaked havoc on marine life and Mississippi’s commercial fishing industry. >Video, click to read<17:37
Coast Guard suspends search for missing worker after explosion
The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended their search for a Texas man who disappeared when an oil and gas platform exploded on a lake near New Orleans. Authorities identified 44-year-old Timothy Morrison, of Katy, Texas, as the missing man. He was a subcontractor working on the structure. “The decision to suspend a search is never an easy one,” said Cmdr. Zac Ford. “We send our thoughts and prayers to the Morrison family and all those affected by this incident.” click here to read the story 19:04
Louisiana – 1 missing after oil rig explodes on Lake Pontchartrain
An oil rig explosion on a lake north of New Orleans, apparently caused when cleaning chemicals ignited, injured seven people and left authorities searching for another who was missing. There were “a lot of injuries,” many of them serious, with at least seven confirmed and more expected from the Sunday evening explosion on Lake Pontchartrain, Kenner Police Department spokesman Sgt. Brian McGregor told The Times-Picayune . No deaths were immediately reported. click here to read the story 07:53
Lake Pontchartrain is crawling with crabs again, and it has the January opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway to thank
Gary Bauer, owner of Pontchartrain Blue Crab in Slidell, said crab production was abysmal in Lake Pontchartrain for three straight years, but it’s rebounded in 2016. “When I fished for a living, when the spillway was open, you knew you were going to have crabs for the next year or two,” he said. “The old-timers consider that fresh layer of silt to be like fertilizer.” A New Orleans East native, Bauer crabbed from 1979 through 1994, and opened his factory in 1999. He said both the quality and quantity of crabs have been better this year. “Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne have been way off, and this year it’s been an improvement,” Bauer said. “We’re not out of the woods yet, but there is definitely an improvement.” Bauer said some fishers pull right up to his dock to sell their catch, but he also buys crabs from wholesalers based around the coast. “A lot of people who used to fish here have moved on to greener pastures, where the crab production has been better,” he said. “The first five years we were in business, we had only one truck. Now we have four. That tells you where the crabs have been coming from.” Read the story here 14:06
