![Louisiana Takes Step To Save Coast, Oyster Industry](http://townsquare.media/site/36/files/2016/06/oysters-on-the-half-shell-wikipedia.org_.jpg?w=300&h=200&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89&w=980&q=75)
Louisiana Takes Step To Save Coast, Oyster Industry
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Louisiana is taking a step it hopes will save both its coast and its oyster industry: It's renewing an oyster leasing program.
The Louisiana Legislature recently passed two bills that lift a 14-year-old moratorium on new leases for oyster farmers.
Lifting the moratorium will help oyster farmers because they'll be able to develop new oyster grounds out of the path of land-building diversions of Mississippi River water and sediment.
Oyster farmers don't like the diversions because freshwater and sediment kill their oysters. But river diversions play a central role in the state's efforts in rebuilding its vanishing coast, which is disappearing at a rate of about 17 square miles a year.
The moratorium was imposed in 2002 because the state feared oyster farming could hinder coastal rebuilding.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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