Coastal erosion and man made changes to Calcasieu Lake have endangered oysters and other marine life by altering their natural habitats over the past century, spurring coastal conservation groups to work toward revitalizing the area.
But as The American Press reports, the latest effort to restore the lake’s fisheries and oyster population is underway in the eastern part of Calcasieu Lake, where conservationists are using recycled concrete pilings to build an artificial reef.
The reef is a project of the state Wildlife and Fisheries Department and the Coastal Conservation Association, a national nonprofit that has built 20 reefs in Louisiana over the past two decades, says John Walter, the CCA’s habitat committee chairman.
Walter says the new reef is the third artificial reef the CCA has built in Calcasieu Lake, the first two being in 2007 and 2012. It’s named “Big Jack’s Reef” in honor of Jack Lawton Sr., who was instrumental in founding a CCA chapter in Louisiana.
The work on the reef began last Saturday and is expected to last another 10 days, Walter says. Workers have almost completed the first phase of the project: placing concrete pilings donated by Lotte Chemical in parallel rows along the lake bottom. The next phase is adding crushed concrete.
