Quote:
Originally Posted by Smalls
But the most that can be done from an ecosystem standpoint is being done. Without control over salinities in the lake, you have to get control over them in the marsh. If that marsh dies, you have no nursery, you have no duck habitat, you have no hurricane protection, and it is also a source of water for farmers and communities.
If you can get the lake conditions under control, maybe the weirs aren't as important to maintaining that marsh.
|
I've attached USGS salinity graphs for the last four years at Hackberry and in the lower Calcasieu. I'm not exactly sure of the lower Calcasieu sampling location, but it might be the station I've noticed at the fishing pier. The lake salinities by the weirs (SE corner of Big Lake, not the West Cove structures) are probably closer to the lower Calcasieu readings.
Notice how seldom these readings are below 5-10 ppt (parts per thousand) and how much time the salinity is above 20 ppt. Getting to full Gulf salinity (35 ppt) is a rare event and only occurred briefly in late summer/early fall 2011. Nevertheless, separating the lower lake from the ship channel is key in lowering the lake salinities which would allow opening the weirs more often to allow fish and bait to move more freely back and forth into the marsh to the benefit of both marsh and lake systems.
Less Than 10 PPT or Bust should be the new slogan for improving the fishery by opening the weirs more days per year.