Atchafalaya will have tremendous detrimental impacts which are not socially or 

 economically acceptable at thus time. The eventual changes will require substantial 

 changes including movement of people, and new technology must be developed to 

 deal with it. The lower river diversions are of small magnitude which do not 

 intefere with what is occurring at the mouth of the Atchafalaya. 



Don Moore: With regard to the earlier issue of optimal conditions in wetlands for living 

 resources, a good objective would be to maximize the area of brackish marsh. Saline 

 marsh is a good brown shrimp nursery and intermediate marsh is good white shrimp 

 nursery, while brackish marsh provides good nursery conditions for both. 



Paul Yakupzack: Who is the savior of the marsh? Is it a State agency, Federal agency? 

 Many agencies are involved, but none seems to be the leader or even a clearing 

 house of information. 



Darryl Clark: The Coastal Management Section of the Department of Natural Resources 

 is not the "savior". We are often put in the position of many regulators of being 

 attacked from all sides ~ industry, fishermen, academics, environmentalists. We 

 must balance these competing interests. This is difficult because of the lack of hard 

 knowledge available and the dynamic nature of our coastline. We are trying a 

 number of approaches including marsh creation. Coastal protection projects have 

 been recommended to the Legislature and are proposed for funding. 



Mike Voisin: It boils down to politics. If enough people become aware of the problem, 

 then the politician will become the savior, because that's what he wants to be. 



Murray Hebert: No one person or group can be the savior of the coast. What we are 

 doing today is certainly a step in the right direction. Certainly, education is critical 

 at this point ~ education of the public and legislators. The Joint Committees on 

 Natural Resources have recommended spending $38 million on projects, which in 

 many cases are just to maintain the status quo. If the State can move forward, the 

 Federal agencies will fall in line. For the first time, I believe we are moving in that 

 direction. 



Donald Landry: Who is going to do it? We are. The educated public. We must save 

 ourselves through public awareness. 



Linda Deegan: If fish and wildlife resources are worth about $190 million annually, how 

 can these concerns compete with the petroleum industry, worth over $10 billion 

 annually? 



Donald Landry: You don't have to compete, because the two resources are not 

 incompatible. They both can co-exist and be beneficial. For example, the major 

 land companies which own 90 percent of wetlands in Terrebonne Parish and develop 

 oil and gas resources are very interested in protecting the marshes. Renewable and 

 nonrenewable resource interests must work together. 



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