Floodwaters carried down from the Midwest are killing oysters and driving crabs, shrimp and finfish out of Louisiana and Mississippi bays and marshes to saltier waters.
So it's a bad year for many people who make their living from the water.
Brad Robin says his family controls about 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) of oyster leases in Louisiana. He says that on a 10-point scale, "we are 9-and-a-half destroyed."
In this Wednesday, June 12, 2019 photo, Matt Cooper, with the City of Dubuque, cleans off an area of American Trust River's Edge Plaza in Dubuque, Iowa, after high water levels of the Mississippi River left large amounts of debris and mud. (Dave KetteringTelegraph Herald via AP)
Mississippi's governor has asked the federal government for a fisheries disaster declaration . Louisiana Wildllife and Fisheries Secretary Jack Montoucet says Gov. John Bel Edwards is preparing a similar request. Both states have seen oyster harvests plummet by 80 percent, and shrimp landings are nearly as bad.