{"id":313275,"date":"2021-07-30T22:37:28","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T19:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/whistleblower-claims-1-4b-gulf-coast-project-is-killing-dolphins\/"},"modified":"2021-07-30T22:37:28","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T19:37:28","slug":"whistleblower-claims-1-4b-gulf-coast-project-is-killing-dolphins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/whistleblower-claims-1-4b-gulf-coast-project-is-killing-dolphins\/","title":{"rendered":"#Whistleblower claims $1.4B Gulf Coast project is killing dolphins"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Whistleblower claims $1.4B Gulf Coast project is killing dolphins<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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A former Louisiana government researcher for marine wildlife says she was fired for blowing the whistle on mass dolphin deaths caused by state-led civil efforts.<\/p>\n

The Louisiana Illuminator has reported<\/a> that Mandy Tumlin, who worked for the state\u2019s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries from 2005 to 2019, claimed she was let go on \u201cbogus\u201d pretenses during the same year she sounded the alarm over a staggering 337 bottlenose dolphins found stranded along the Gulf Coast. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/a>, only nine of them survived their rescue efforts.<\/p>\n

That year, the Bonnet Carre Spillway, an emergency system that diverts water from the flood-prone Mississippi River into Lake Pontchartrain, was open for a total of 118 days \u2014 resulting in an unsustainable influx of freshwater into the Gulf via the Rigolets strait and Chef Menteur Pass. <\/p>\n

The sudden abundance of freshwater into a saltwater body can wreak havoc on the marine ecosystem, including freshwater lesions \u2014 the condition that led to 2019\u2019s mass dolphin death event. <\/p>\n

The Louisiana Illuminator reported that Tumlin believes she was fired from her role as marine mammal stranding coordinator for the LDWF for bringing attention to this issue \u2014 a move that could hinder the state\u2019s plan to rebuild the eroding delta by diverting sediment flow of the Mississippi River, dubbed the Mid-Barataria Bay Sediment Diversion Project, a $1.4 billion endeavor. <\/p>\n

\"dolphin
Freshwater lesions, such as those seen here, can make dolphins more susceptible to viral infections and death.<\/figcaption>
Institute for Marine Mammal Stud<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe feel that this was done so that the state of Louisiana can proceed with its plan to construct and operate the Mid-Barataria Bay and Breton Sound Diversion Projects which will actually be lethal on dolphin populations in those areas due to freshwater lesions and other impacts,\u201d Tumlin told the Illuminator. <\/p>\n

The painful lesions \u201cwill make them more susceptible to viral infections that will cause mortality,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Tumlin also claimed she was hit with \u201cconstant roadblock[s]\u201d from her superiors as the press sought her statements on the 2019 dolphin deaths and their link to the Bonnet Carre Spillway \u2014 a spokesperson role she was previously expected to perform<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One study by the Marine Mammal Commission<\/a> has already suggested that the diversion project would bring some bottlenose dolphin populations in the Barataria Bay region of the Gulf to \u201cfunctional extinction.\u201d <\/p>\n

George Ricks, a charter boat captain and Gulf advocate, testified on behalf of Tumlin during the Louisiana State Civil Service proceedings held in January 2020 to app<\/a>eal her dismissal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll give you my opinion,\u201d said Ricks, who is a vocal opponent of the diversion project and reportedly also tried to wrest information from Tumlin about the 2019 dolphin die-off. \u201cShe got terminated because they didn\u2019t want her saying too much about the river water causing these dolphins to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OgdPdod1qEg<\/a><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Moby Solangi, executive director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, told the Illuminator that he\u2019s suspicious that some marine deaths are going uncounted in Tumlin\u2019s absence. Based in Mississippi, Solangi has also seen the toxic effects of spillway freshwater on Gulf life, including shrimp, crab and oyster \u2014 the region\u2019s signature culinary exports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese animals cannot just swim away,\u201d Solangi said. \u201cBy the time they realize things are bad, they are sick and die.\u201d<\/p>\n

The LDWF has made the case that Tumlin was terminated on grounds that she\u2019d missed critical deadlines on the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe termination was a bogus, contrived setup,\u201d said Tumlin\u2019s lawyer, J. Arthur Smith, III. \u201cMandy made all deadlines for which she was responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ordeal has been \u201cdisappointing, and completely disheartening,\u201d she told the Illuminator.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave my life to this. I missed out on celebrations and holidays,\u201d she said. \u201cMy personal cellphone was the statewide hotline for marine mammal strandings. I was on call constantly.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Whistleblower claims $1.4B Gulf Coast project is killing dolphins” A former Louisiana government researcher for marine wildlife says she was fired for blowing the whistle on mass dolphin deaths caused by state-led civil efforts. The Louisiana Illuminator has reported that Mandy Tumlin, who worked for the state\u2019s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries from 2005 to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":313276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/dead-dolphins-whistleblower-05.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[113094,60557,71639,58265,70782,70768],"class_list":["post-313275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-7-30-21","tag-dolphins","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-louisiana","tag-marine-life","tag-whistleblowers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}