PANEL DISCUSSION 



OPTIONS: BARRIER ISLAND AND SHORELINE PROTECTION 



Charles G. Groat, Moderator 



Dag Nummedal, Irving A. Mendelssohn, 

 Robert A. Morton, Johannes van Beek, Representative Murray J. Hebert 



and Larry DeMent, Panelists 



Charles Groat: State Representative Murray Hebert has joined the speakers as a 

 panelist. Representative Hebert is from Terrebonne Parish which has an extensive 

 border with the gulf, lined with barrier islands. Consequently, he has been among 

 the most active legislators in matters of shoreline erosion and barrier island 

 protection. 



Murray Hebert: First, I want to express my appreciation to LUMCON for holding this 

 conference. It's a good idea for the scientific community to interact with the others 

 representing diverse responsibilities and attitudes regarding the issues of coastal 

 erosion. 



As a member of the House Natural Resources and Ways and Means committees 

 I have made coastal restoration my top legislative priority. In Terrebonne Parish 

 alone we have lost 200 mi of marsh and barrier island in the last 40 years. With the 

 possible exception of Plaquemines Parish, Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes are the 

 ones most affected by coastal erosion. One of the ways we used to get legislators 

 concerned about coastal erosion is to prepare some simple map overlays which 

 highlight the area of land loss. For example, this segment of the western Isles 

 Dernieres contained 1,180 acres of barrier island in 1953 and 476 acres in 1978 for a 

 loss of 60 percent. East Timbalier Island suffered a 42% reduction in size in the 

 same period. 



The Joint Committees on Natural Resources have recommended projects to 

 slow coastal erosion costing $38 million, including island restoration and 

 stabilization projects, mainly in the Terrebonne-Lafourche area. Also recommended 

 are freshwater diversions in Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes and shoreline 

 protection and wetlands management projects in southwestern Louisiana. Another 

 project recommended for testing is marine accretion, a process by which calcium 

 carbonate is built on wire through which a weak current is passed. This can be done 

 economically for about one cent per pound in place. 



Some projects recommended probably will not work, but the Legislature feels 

 that with the severity of the problems and diverse opionion about what can be done, 

 we will have to go with trial and error. Thus we will need the scientific community 

 to monitor these projects and determine which ones will work and which ones will 

 not. 



208 



