The upcoming Bassmaster Classic will be held at the Louisiana Delta outside New Orleans. B.A.S.S. stated it will use the Classic to help draw attention to perils that threaten the entire Louisiana Delta ecosystem – an area the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) lists as a "Vanishing Paradise."
B.A.S.S., in partnership with the NWF and Louisiana Wildlife Federation (LWF), will campaign to promote the restoration and protection of Louisiana's imperiled coastal wetlands and reconnect the Mississippi River to its delta.
The problem according to the NWF? Levees and navigation projects along the Mississippi River have isolated Louisiana's wetlands from the freshwater and sediment that once built them, while allowing saltwater to penetrate far inland and destroy once healthy coastal forests and freshwater swamps. As a result, more than 2,300 square miles of coastal lands and estuaries, an area nearly the size of the state of Delaware, has washed away or subsided in the last 80 years. An area of land the size of a football field becomes open water nearly every half-hour along the Louisiana coast.
River diversion projects already in place have dramatically improved delta bass fishing since the Classic last visited New Orleans in 2003. LWF's Sportsmen for the Coast campaign and NWF's Vanishing Paradise effort are aimed at gaining federal approval of additional projects to restore the vast marshland.
B.A.S.S. ownership partner Jerry McKinnis stated: "B.A.S.S. supports these efforts to protect and improve this great fishery that's so important to bass fishermen and other sportsmen. Unless something's done to protect these coastal wetlands, the fantastic fishing we have now won't be around for our children to enjoy."
LWF coastal outreach coordinator Chris Macaluso added: "The best bass fishing, and arguably even the best saltwater fishing in Louisiana over the past 10 to 15 years has been in the coastal areas near the Caernarvon and Davis Pond diversions. Bringing the river back into those areas has increased the aquatic vegetation, made the food chain healthier and made both the bass fishing and the saltwater fishing much better. The Mississippi River built this delta, and it only makes sense that it needs to be used to restore and rebuild it."
More information about the campaign can be found at VanishingParadise.org and LAWildlifeFed.org/coastal.
The below video features leaders from Ducks Unlimited talking about the crisis.
