LSU Media Center

The region where the river meets the Gulf of Mexico is crucial for U.S. commerce, energy, wildlife and fisheries and the people who live there, but it’s also one of the most vulnerable coastal areas in the world. Recent research shows the river is redirecting its flows to the east and west, which poses critical challenges to navigation and implications for water management, including saltwater intrusions.

“With our land disappearing, it has a big effect on our fisheries because the shrimp and crabs don’t have anywhere to reproduce,” Cultural Heritage and Resiliency Coordinator Cherie Matherne said. “The places they would normally go are gone. So, the erosion not only affects us not being able to live here in this bayou community, but many of the resident fishermen rely on that income to raise their families.”