Video by Bruce Reid
Bonnet Carré Sturgeon Entrainment
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center
March 11, 2016 | 9:37
Fisheries biologists, led by the Environmental Laboratory at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center and New Orleans District, search for federally endangered Pallid Sturgeon possibly entrained through the Bonnet Carré Spillway near New Orleans. The Bonnet Carré Spillway is the one of the largest freshwater diversions in the world capable of passing 250,000 cfs from the Mississippi River into Lake Pontchartrain. Biologists have rescued Pallid Sturgeon after previous openings in the spring of 2008 and 2011. However, no sturgeon were found downstream of the structure after the recent January 2016 opening likely due to fish occurring in deeper waters away from the structure during colder water temperatures. (Produced by Bruce Reid, Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee and the Mississippi River Trust)
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