Mississippi Sound Coalition

Marine Discovery Day
2024-05-11 10:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, 2148 Riverside Dr, Jackson, MS, 39202, United States
Want to learn about shark biology or how shrimp are caught? Curious about Mississippi’s marine fishes? Then this is the event for you!
MDWF’s Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, along with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and other coastal agencies and organizations, will host fun and informative activities and demonstrations about Mississippi’s coastal resources, the seafood industry, and fishing!
So, join us for a day of maritime fun as we explore the life of sharks and other marine fishes with our coastal biology experts!
* This event is suitable for the whole family and is included with MMNS Foundation Membership or regular Museum admission.
ADMISSION:

Adults: $8
Youth (Ages 3-18): $6
Senior Citizens 60 and Over: $7
Children Under 3: FREE
School Teachers with Classes: $3 per student

EXHIBITORS:

Learn about coastal birds and their habitats, including Least Terns, a local nester on Mississippi’s beaches with Audubon Delta. The station will include hands-on materials, a mock stewarding station, and information about our bird banding projects.
Learn about a living dinosaur with the USM Marine Education Center! The Gulf Sturgeon is a fascinating creature that calls the rivers and stream of Southern Mississippi its home. The Marine Education Center will be bringing their Surging Sturgeon activities to Marine Resources Day.

EXHIBITORS AND ACTIVITIES INCLUDE:

Audubon Delta: Learn about coastal birds and their habitats, including Least Terns, a local nester on Mississippi’s beaches. The station will include hands-on materials, a mock stewarding station, and information about bird banding projects.

USM Marine Education Center: Learn about a living dinosaur with their Surging Sturgeon activities! The Gulf Sturgeon is a fascinating creature that calls the rivers and streams of Southern Mississippi its home.

Check back soon for more.

* Activities, exhibitors, and vendors, subject to change.

Earth Day Ocean Springs
2024-04-20 10:00 - 14:30 | Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Arts Center, 1600 Government St, Ocean Springs, MS, 39564, United States
Come visit our booth at Earth Day Ocean Springs. Join us as the OS Environmental Alliance celebrates Earth Day with informational booths, family fun, and music at the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Arts Center.

Celebrate the Gulf
2024-04-06 10:00 - 15:00 | Memorial Park, Highway 90 &, Fleitas Ave, Pass Christian, 39571, United States
Celebrate the Gulf Marine Education Festival was first established in 1991 to teach residents and visitors about the importance of the Gulf of Mexico. The festival is held the first Saturday in April under the beautiful canopy of the live oak trees in Memorial Park in Pass Christian, Mississippi in conjunction with our sister festival, Art in the Pass.
Please come by our booth!

IMMS Rehabilitated Sea Turtle Release
2024-03-21 10:30 - 12:00 | MS
Hundreds of students teamed up with IMMS to release Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, the most endangered in the world, into the Mississippi Sound on Biloxi Beach yesterday. This event is a testament to the ongoing efforts of Dr. Moby Solangi, IMMS Executive Director and Chairman of Mississippi Sound Coalition’s Science Committee, and his team to revitalize our ecosystem and #SaveOurSound.

Watch WLOX’s coverage!

Scientific Research Forum
2024-03-14 10:00 - 12:00 | Knight Nonprofit Center, 11975 Seaway Rd, Gulfport, MS, 39503, United States
Our topic will be the Mississippi Sound. Join us to hear from experts in the field discussing the Mississippi Sound estuary and steps we can take to preserve the Sound and its natural beauty. This event is open to the public and offers free admission.
Watch the video!
The Coalition held its first Scientific Research Forum, where Scientists from The University of Southern Mississippi, Northern Gulf Institute and Mississippi State University took the stage to share their ongoing research into the aftermath of the 2019 Bonnet Carré Spillway opening and the intricate effects of Mississippi River water on our ecological systems.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Public Meeting
2024-02-27 14:00 - 20:00 | Hancock County Library, 312 Hwy 90, Bay St. Louis, MS, 39520, United States
Mark Your Calendars! The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will host two public scoping meetings for the Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study (LMR Comp) on Tuesday, February 27th at Hancock County Library.
Address: 312 Hwy 90, Bay St. Louis, MS 39520
Meeting Times: 2-4 PM & 6-8 PM
The Mississippi Sound Coalition (MSSC) recommends that Mississippians attend and comment at a meeting or submit comments online.
HOW CAN YOU CONTRIBUTE?
Participate in the Public Scoping Meetings in late February and early March either in-person or online.
During the Public Scoping Meetings, we want to learn from you:

Regional NEEDS or PLANS that the Corps should be aware of and take into consideration
OPPORTUNITIES you’d like to see realized (or not see)
Recommendations for how to address the major CONCERNS you have about the Lower Mississippi River/Bonnet Carré Spillway
CHANGES you’d like to see to the management of the Lower Mississippi River
Ideas for how the Corps should COMMUNICATE with you throughout the Study process
The purpose of the study is to identify recommendations for the comprehensive management of the region across multiple purposes, including: hurricane and storm damage reduction, flood risk management, structure and nonstructural flood control, floodplain management strategies, navigation, ecosystem and environmental restoration, water supply, hydropower production, recreation, and other purposes as determined by the Secretary of the Army.

The study area encompasses seven states: Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. Because of the size and scope of the study, active participation and collaboration from the public and stakeholders throughout the five-year endeavor will be critical to identifying practical and sustainable recommendations for successful management of the river.

Gulf Coast Business Council: Mississippi Sound Coalition Panel Discussion
2024-02-22 08:30 - 11:30 | Knight Nonprofit Center, 11975 Seaway Rd, Gulfport, MS, 39503, United States
Leaders of the Mississippi Sound Coalition participate in a panel discussion moderated by Gulf Coast Business Council (GCBC) President & CEO Jamie Miller to provide updates on the Coalition’s latest efforts. MSSC has teamed up with Senator Roger Wicker at the GCBC meeting to urge local business leaders to support the Coalition’s mission to protect and restore the Mississippi Sound and the livelihoods of those who call the coast home.

Gerald Blessey Comments | CPRA Board Meeting - February 21, 2024
2024-02-21 09:30 - 10:30 | The Water Institute, 1110 River Road S., Baton Rouge, MS, 70802, United States
Gerald Blessey provides insights into the Mississippi Sound Coalition’s vision toward win-win solutions during the public comments segment of the Coastal Protection & Restoration Authority (CPRA) Board Meeting on Feb. 21, 2024.

Transcript:
I’m Gerald Blessey. I’m the Counsel and Manager for the Mississippi Sound Coalition, former Mayor of Biloxi. The Sound Coalition is the combination of the city and county governments, commercial fisheries and tourism industry on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The 2019 Bonnet Carre opening, as you probably know, killed all of the natural oyster reefs in the western Mississippi Sound. They’re still dead. It killed 10% of our dolphin population, and it created, because it was the longest that went on into the summertime, an algae bloom that ended up closing our waters and our beaches. And so it killed the tourism season.
So we’re going to participate very actively in the Lower Mississippi River Comprehensive Management Study and we invite you and the Corps to join us in looking for win-win solutions to the management of the Mississippi River. By that, I mean, of course, flood protection, coastal restoration and protecting the environment, including the Mississippi Sound because we’re directly affected.
I want to comment briefly, Mr. Chairman, that the Mid-Breton Diversion concerns us, just as it does Plaquemines Parish. We do have science from the Northern Gulf Institute—that’s Mississippi State and the University of Southern Mississippi. It [the science] shows that the Mid-Breton Diversion will ultimately have the same devastating and long-term, permanent impact on the Mississippi Sound.
It’s peer-reviewed science, it changes the salinity forever. And once it becomes changed, as you know, if you go below five parts of 1000 salinity, it kills the oysters. They’re not coming back. So, my point is that we really want to see win-win solutions. We are very concerned about, of course, the Bonnet Carre and Mid-Breton, but we think the whole lower Mississippi River the whole concept must be rethought.
Surely, we can find in this great country of ours, the best minds in America to figure out how to do these win-win solutions. And we offer our hands in friendship. We try to do that, Mississippi and Louisiana together.

Biloxi Business Men’s Club Presentation
2024-02-01 12:30 - 13:30 | Mary Mahoney’s, 110 Rue Magnolia, Biloxi, MS, United States
MSSC leader Gerald Blessey presented to the Biloxi Businessman’s Club at Mary Mahoney’s to discuss the Coalition’s recent efforts to #SaveOurSound.

Gerald Blessey Appears on WMXI News Radio 98.1FM
2024-02-01 06:00 - 08:00 | MS
MSSC Manager Gerald Blessey makes a live appearance on WMXI New Radio 98.1 FM to talk to Michael Pol and Ted Tibbett about the Coalition’s efforts to Save our Sound.

MSSC’s Lead Counsel Robert Wiygul Sits Down with WLOX's Dave Elliot
2024-01-28 06:30 - 07:00 | MS
Robert Wiygul, MSSC’s Lead Counsel, recently sat down for an interview with Dave Elliott at WLOX to break down the basis of our lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Watch the full interview here.

Press Conference Mississippi Sound Coalition January 2024
2024-01-22 11:00 - 12:00 | Harrison County Courthouse, 1801 23rd Ave, Gulfport, 39501, United States
The Mississippi Sound Coalition held a press conference announcing the lawsuit filed on January 22, 2024 against the U.S. Corps of Engineers. Watch the press conference of the Mississippi Sound Coalition announcing the Marine Mammal Protection Act Lawsuit.

Gerald Blessey Appears on Ricky Mathews Show
2024-01-15 08:00 - 08:30 | MS
Gerald Blessey appears on Ricky Mathews Show to discuss updates on the Mississippi Sound Coalition. Click on the video above to watch now!

MSSC Leader Gerald Blessey Sits Down with WLOX's Dave Elliot
2024-01-14 08:00 - 09:00 | MS
MSSC leader Gerald Blessey sits down with WLOX’s Dave Elliott to discuss the Coalition’s recent efforts to #SaveOurSound.
Watch the full interview here.

Miss. Sound Coalition Says U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wrong About Bonnet Carré Spillway’s Impact on Mississippi Oysters and Marine Life
2024-01-08 10:00 - 11:00 | MS
Miss. Sound Coalition Says U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wrong About Bonnet Carré Spillway’s Impact on Mississippi Oysters and Marine Life
BILOXI, Miss., Jan. 8, 2024 – Today, the Mississippi Sound Coalition (MSSC) released its rebuttal to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ claim that openings of the Bonnet Carré Spillway cause only “minor” impacts on oysters and marine life in the Mississippi Sound.
Coalition attorney, Robert Wiygul, sent the rebuttal to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), a United States federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in response to the Corps’ recent report of impacts of Spillway Operations on Essential Fish Habitat of the Mississippi Sound. In a lawsuit brought by the Mississippi Sound Coalition, U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola, Jr. ordered the Corps to make the report in consultation with NMFS no later than Feb. 13, 2024.
The Coalition said, “[The Corps’] key assertions of ‘minor and temporary’ impacts of Bonnet Carré Spillway Operations . . . are contrary to the available data and scientific literature. Many other assertions lack any citation to data or literature and are essentially unsupported opinion.”
The Coalition provides evidence in its rebuttal that, “The 2019 Bonnet Carré Spillway openings caused oyster mortality at a scale that has prevented re-establishment of the reefs.”
“Repeated Mississippi River water releases from the Bonnet Carre´ in 2011, 2016, 2018 and 2019 came into our Sound, reduced the salinity and killed our natural oyster beds,” said Ryan Bradley, a commercial fisherman and Executive Director of Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United, a member of MSSC and also a plaintiff in the aforementioned lawsuit. “As our memo says, five years later, they’ve still not been able to re-establish.”
It is the Coalition’s hope that its rebuttal will bring to light deficiencies found in the Corps report so that working together, as was required in the court order, the Corps and National Marine Fisheries can either respond to MSSC’s memo or amend their report by the February 13, 2024 deadline with information that is more substantiated by science and facts.
As stated in the rebuttal, “the Corps has full authority to modify Bonnet Carré Spillway operations and has done so in the past.”
“It is our hope that MSSC’s efforts will influence these modifications with facts and information. Our goal is to Save our Sound before it’s too late,” said Gerald Blessey, Manager of the Coalition. “We must stand up and protect our Mississippi Sound way of life, livelihoods and economy while we have the chance.”
View WLOX’s coverage here.
View WXXV’s coverage here.
Read SunHerald’s coverage here.
