| Implement the Ships for Shores Project |
| Moderate Recovery Value |
| JEFFERSON PARISH | SECTOR: FLOOD PROTECTION AND COASTAL RESTORATION |
STRATEGIC RECOVERY GOAL: |
Restore/protect 40 linear miles (211,200 feet) of critical landforms, including bays, shorelines, ridges, and peninsulas, which provide direct storm protection to infrastructure and population centers.
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| ; , LA AREA: |
| 03/01/2009 6 Months |
| Current Status |
Effective Date |
Comments |
| Included in Recovery Plan |
04/07/2006 |
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Though Katrina made landfall 50 miles to its east, Grand Isle received extremely high winds and a 12-20 foot storm surge from Barataria Bay that caused tremendous structural damage to many of the island’s camps, homes, and businesses. Those areas hardest hit had no protection on the northern Barataria Bay side of the island, while the bayside barrier islands provided additional protection to structures and infrastructure on Grand Isle. Based on the identified need to restore and maintain the barrier islands in the immediate vicinity of Grand Isle as the first line of defense, this project will protect and enhance approximately 2 miles (10,500 feet) of shoreline on Tern and Dutch islands, achieving 5% of the total goal.
This project is located in the immediate vicinity of Grand Isle, and utilizes 25 sunken ships or barges as breakwater structures to directly protect Tern Island and Dutch Island, and secondarily protect Grand Isle. The objectives of the project are to reduce erosion caused by wind-driven wave energy and promote sediment accretion.
Since the days of Jean and Pierre Lafitte, Grand Isle has been on the route of commerce and industry. Today most business activity consists of shrimpers and other fishing boats carrying their cargo to New Orleans and markets throughout the region. And ever present are the offshore oil rigs dotting the horizon, busily extracting energy sources from below the Gulf, and relying on Grand Isle for refining and infrastructure capacity.
Grand Isle State Park is the only state-owned and operated beach on Louisiana’s Gulf coast, and it is no slouch when it comes to quality fishing. Fishing, though, is not the only attraction to the 300,000 annual visitors to Grand Isle. The park also makes available choice prospects for campers, picnickers, and swimmers, as well as those who just like to scour the beach for seashells of various colors and shapes.
Grand Isle is host to a variety of different bird species, and bird-watching enthusiast come from all over to observe the twice a year trans-gulf migratory birds that congregate there before continuing their journey. There are also a vast number of year-around bird species that have drawn many a photographer to the area.
Grand Isle is not just any remote island on the Gulf Coast, it is a community, with grocery stores, department stores, fast-foods, and Louisiana Cajun seafood restaurants. And it has been rated as one of the top-ten fishing spots in the world, even before the oil industry planted the steel platforms throughout the Gulf of Mexico, though their addition has made the fishing even better. This is the way Grand Isle is perceived to those who have shared her abundance, year after year. It is as much a part of Louisiana living as red beans and rice and Barq's root beer. It is the "Cajun Riviera"–and the natives would have it no other way.
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