The governor of Mississippi wants the federal government to declare a fisheries disaster as water from the Bonnet Carre Spillway gushes into what's normally a saltwater estuary.

The unprecedented second opening of the spillway last month also has an increasing number of Mississippi officials demanding a voice in when the spillway is opened.

Their concern is that the freshwater from the river that streams through Lake Pontchartrain and on into the Mississippi Sound is bad for oysters, shrimp, crabs and other saltwater-loving seafood.

Gov. Phil Bryant says he has made an official request in a letter to U.S Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

The governor says 70 percent of the Mississippi Sound's already imperiled oyster population is estimated to be dead, with the crab catch down by 35 percent.