#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’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries from 2005 to 2019, claimed she was let go on “bogus” 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, only nine of them survived their rescue efforts.

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 — resulting in an unsustainable influx of freshwater into the Gulf via the Rigolets strait and Chef Menteur Pass.

The sudden abundance of freshwater into a saltwater body can wreak havoc on the marine ecosystem, including freshwater lesions — the condition that led to 2019’s mass dolphin death event.

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 — a move that could hinder the state’s 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.

“We 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,” Tumlin told the Illuminator.

The painful lesions “will make them more susceptible to viral infections that will cause mortality,” she explained.

Tumlin also claimed she was hit with “constant roadblock[s]” from her superiors as the press sought her statements on the 2019 dolphin deaths and their link to the Bonnet Carre Spillway — a spokesperson role she was previously expected to perform.

One study by the Marine Mammal Commission has already suggested that the diversion project would bring some bottlenose dolphin populations in the Barataria Bay region of the Gulf to “functional extinction.”

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 appeal her dismissal.

“I’ll give you my opinion,” 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. “She got terminated because they didn’t want her saying too much about the river water causing these dolphins to die.”

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

“These animals cannot just swim away,” Solangi said. “By the time they realize things are bad, they are sick and die.”

The LDWF has made the case that Tumlin was terminated on grounds that she’d missed critical deadlines on the job.

“The termination was a bogus, contrived setup,” said Tumlin’s lawyer, J. Arthur Smith, III. “Mandy made all deadlines for which she was responsible.”

The ordeal has been “disappointing, and completely disheartening,” she told the Illuminator.

“I gave my life to this. I missed out on celebrations and holidays,” she said. “My personal cellphone was the statewide hotline for marine mammal strandings. I was on call constantly.”