WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today met with Mississippi Gulf Coast leaders to discuss the devastating influx of freshwater into the Mississippi Sound and Gulf of Mexico after the opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway. The flow of floodwaters into the Mississippi Sound has dramatically lowered the salinity in the coastal ecosystem, which will result in losses to the Gulf Coast’s seafood, sport fishing, and tourism industries.

The Gulf Coast delegation included Biloxi Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich, Waveland Mayor Mike Smith, Gulfport Councilman Myles Sharp, D’Iberville City Manager Clay Jones, and Biloxi Civic Innovation and Development Officer Cliff Kirkland.

Yesterday Wicker sent a letter with Congressman Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in support of Governor Phil Bryant’s request for a federal fisheries disaster declaration.