• By AMY WOLD
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Dec 4, 2008 - Page: 13A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — Although many science tools are available for coastal restoration work, more data and better solutions to some issues are still needed, speakers at the Louisiana Coastal Area Science Board said Wednesday.

The meeting, which continues today in New Orleans, is one of several the science board holds annually to update members on the ongoing science work related to the coast.

By meeting periodically, the group hopes to eliminate duplicated efforts and create partnerships between agencies and researchers to get the most from limited research dollars.

On Wednesday, speakers from federal and state agencies focused on the issues surrounding the proposed use of freshwater diversions from the Mississippi River.

A big problem surfaced recently when the future of the West Bay Diversion in Plaquemines Parish was questioned during a Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Task Force meeting.

The project involves a break in the levee to allow Mississippi River water and sediment to flow into the marshes southwest of the break. However, shoaling has become a problem in a nearby river staging area for river vessels.

The task force discussed that either the shoaling needs to be addressed or the project might have to be shut down. The task force decided to set aside money to dredge the anchorage during the next three years as a short term fix. In the long term, money has been set aside to close the project down if a solution to the problem isn’t found.

However, with many more freshwater diversions included in the state’s master plan and other restoration plans for Louisiana’s coast, the issue of potential shoaling from these diversions needs to be addressed, said Ronnie Paille, senior U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist.

Solutions could lie in new technologies and designing diversions differently to address shoaling concerns, Paille said.

Jim Pahl, with the state Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, said a recent report looked at eight diversion case studies and their effects on shoaling. The report suggests there would be shoaling directly downstream from a diversion, but less dredging needed farther downstream.

Potential shoaling is just one of many questions that need to go into designing freshwater diversions, Paille said.

Decisions need to be made on where diversions should be located for the best benefit, how they should be operated and how to minimize impacts on fisheries, he said.

All of these potential problems have solutions that can be laid out in freshwater diversion strategies, Paille said.