On Feb. 20 Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser was in Breaux Bridge to pardon a crawfish. Later that month, he officially pardoned the baby pig rescued along a Mardi Gras parade route. On Friday, he was in Lake Charles where his keynote address for the Police Jury Association of Louisiana convention included saving dolphins – and the Louisiana seafood  industry.

Nungesser’s audience was one of the biggest crowds that’s ever gathered for the JPAL Convention. Eleven hundred people registered for the Jeff Davis Parish-hosted event held Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the Golden Nugget Casino. This convention marked 100 years for the police jury form of government. Mike Smith, Calcasieu Parish District 1 Police Juror and newly elected PJAL executive board member at large, said he thinks the high attendance was because folks wanted to visit Lake Charles.

“Every meeting room was filled to capacity,” he said.

 Nungesser, who is over the Seafood Promotion board, said there is a crisis not just with crawfish, but with the shrimp and oysters, the entire seafood industry.  The lower cost of imported seafood is just one problem the industry is facing.    

“I’m asking you to ‘Ask before you Eat,’” Nungesser said.

Act 372 of the 2019 Louisiana Legislature session requires any food service establishment that serves imported shrimp or crawfish to post a notice that informs patrons as a way to warn about chemicals and residues that can be found in imported seafood. 

Nungesser also wants to have the authority over fines and enforcement for contaminated and mislabeled seafood violations That is currently under the purview of Health and Hospitals.

“They’ve got their hands full,” he said. “Last year there were 2300 violations, and not one was fined. Let us do something about it.”

Nungesser, the longest-serving Republican Lt. Governor urged finding out more about the $2.7 billion Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion that would punch a hole in the Mississippi River levee along the west bank of Plaquemines Parish to divert some of its sediment-rich water to the Barataria basin. 

“It will kill the seafood industry and provide minimal restoration,” Nungesser said. “It’s the biggest fraud ever pulled over our eyes. Their own studies show it will kill 2000 dolphins the first year. Why is that important?” he asked. “Dolphins are the canary in the coal mine. When it dies, everything below it will die.” 

Nungesser thanked the governor and new head of Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Gordy Dove for issuing “stop work order” until further review. 

The Lt. Gov. plugged future visits to other parts of the state and to Pasadena for a “trip of a lifetime” to participate in the state’s party/decoration of Rose Parade floats. He called riverboat cruises a “game changer” that boosts tourism up and down the Mississippi. One cruise busses tourists to Poverty Point, a World Heritage Site that’s 3,400 years old.

The Louisiana Office of State Parks continues to seek public-private partnerships to implement projects to enhance visitor experience, according to Nungesser. “I see a day that we won’t need any tax money to run our state parks,” he said.

Nungesser naned a Washington Parish Park horse and bike trail project that continues to bring visitors to the parish, resulting in the park there being named as the #2 bike trail in the country. “One thing we won’t do,” he said. “We won’t let anyone open anything in a state park that you don’t want. We don’t want to compete with local businesses.”