Anglers are hopeful they will see long-term solutions to the problems that plague the Basin
The Atchafalaya Basin is the embodiment of Sportsman’s Paradise.
It’s America’s largest swamp, encompassing more than 250,000 acres of iconic cypress and tupelo gum forests, winding bayous and lakes that give way to growing deltas as the Atchafalaya River’s sediment-heavy waters near the Gulf.
Too many Louisianans to count have explored the fertile bayous, bays, lakes and flats of the Basin in pursuit of bass, sac-a-lait, goggle-eye, hand-sized bluegill and numerous other fish.
The Atchafalaya also supports ample deer and squirrel hunting opportunities and the world’s largest annual wild crawfish harvest. It teems with alligators, ducks and other waterfowl and supports commercial fishing for catfish, buffalo, carp and blue crabs.
While the Basin is inarguably one of the country’s top fisheries, it has become obvious to many its productivity has declined over the last 20 years. Sediment coming down the Atchafalaya River, which is fed by the combined waters of the Mississippi and Red Rivers and directed by the Old River Control Structure, is filling in and shallowing bayous, canals and lakes throughout the Basin.
The sediment that makes it all the way to the Basin’s final stretches in the Atchafalaya Bay are building extensive deltas at the mouth of the Atchafalaya River and the Wax Lake Outlet, expanding valuable habitat for ducks, bald eagles and a wide variety of other birds and fish. However, in the northern and middle grounds of the Basin, areas like Grand Lake, Little Bayou Pigeon, Buffalo Cove and Grand River Flats, the sediment is clogging waterways and blocking some north-south flows that are critical to bringing oxygenated waters into the swamp.
Other issues
Other man-made issues plague the Basin as well. First, while it remains wild in appearance and supports a wide range of fisheries and wildlife, the Basin is a heavily managed flood control spillway used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help make sure the Mississippi River doesn’t overtop its levees or tries to switch course and begin to use the Atchafalaya River as its primary outlet to the Gulf.
Guide levees built by the Corps to stop floodwaters from spreading and protect communities have cut off annual spring floods from filtering into areas that were once part of the Basin like Lake Verret and Lake Fausse Point. Areas inside the levees are silting in while the swamps cut off by the levees are sinking and filling in with rotting leaves and other organic materials.
Man-made oil and gas canals and barge channels like the Whiskey Bay Pilot Channel have changed the natural water flows, and spoil banks have interrupted the critical “sheet” flow that spread nutrients and sediments across the swamp during spring floods.
Invasive vegetation like salvinia and hyacinth have choked off waterways and Asian carp have infiltrated, disrupting the food chain for gamefish, catfish and other species.
Bass anglers notice the change
Long-time Atchafalaya bass anglers have been sounding the alarm about bass populations and overall size of fish for more than a decade, noting tournament stringers have declined in total weight by as much as five pounds on average over the last decade-plus. Biologists with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries have figured the average life span of a Basin bass to be about three years, much shorter than bass in reservoirs.
Crawfishermen are feeling it as well with low dissolved oxygen levels often killing their catch in the traps before they can sack the crawfish and get them to market.
Low dissolved oxygen could be the chief culprit limiting bass size as well. The stress of low dissolved oxygen levels, especially during summer months when water temps can climb into the high 80s and in areas not getting the proper water movement, causes bass to stop eating and forces them to concentrate in areas with higher oxygen.
State and federal habitat and fisheries managers understand the problems and are trying to take some steps, working within the constraints of funding and the reality that the Basin is a critical flood control tool.
In the works
The Army Corps of Engineers is in the middle of its Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study, a multi-year, $25 million “Mega Study” authorized by Congress to examine changes that can be made in Mississippi River management from southern Missouri to the Gulf to improve navigation, flood control and recreational access and better manage water and habitat for fish and wildlife production. The study is set to conclude in late 2027 and could be the basis for federally approved water resources projects that affect the Atchafalaya Basin and other Mississippi River floodplains for decades.
At the same time, Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority is in the middle of a four-year process of public engagement, engineering and modeling and identifying funding sources for a comprehensive master plan for the Basin that would prescribe a host of dredging, water quality, habitat restoration, boat launches and other public access projects.
The Nature Conservancy, a habitat restoration and preservation-focused non-profit group, is working closely with both agencies and the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries through the Sustainable Rivers Program to develop specific recommendations on how water levels and habitat can be better managed in the Basin to improve fisheries, wildlife and forests. Among some early recommendations are inundating the Basin’s floodplains early enough in the year and long enough for bass and sac-a-lait to successfully spawn, drawing down water in the early summer before high temperatures kill oxygen levels, and pulsing water through the Old River Control Structure into the Basin in the late summer to improve water quality.
All of these efforts will take time to develop. But it’s good news that state and federal agencies and conservation organizations are paying real attention to the problems in the Atchafalaya Basin and thinking beyond temporary fixes and a short-term Band-Aid.
Hopefully that means 10 years from now Basin bass anglers are again bragging about tournament stringers instead of still lamenting about what used to be.
