New Iberia Mayor Freddie DeCourt announced today that the city has received a grant to build boat slips downtown.
The Louisiana Department of the Wildlife & Fisheries and the U.S. Department of the Interior awarded the grant, as part of the Fish and Wildlife Service & Sport Fish Restoration Program.
The allocated funds will be used to construct a new waterway development that will include five (5) boat slips along the proposed 160’ bulkhead shoreline and includes handicap accessibility and lighting. Slips will be parallel to the bulkhead for mooring of Big ‘P’ vessels that will be secured and clear 100’ of the navigational channel width. The development will accommodate transient, non-trailer able recreational vessels 26’ or more in length that are manufactured and operated primarily for pleasure, the mayor said.
The 135-mile long Bayou Teche was added to the National Water Trail System in 2015 as the 17th water trail in the country and the first in Louisiana. The bayou flows through the middle of downtown, and will provide to
boating tourists all of the amenities that the City of New Iberia has to offer, the mayor said.
“Our sincere appreciation to Louisiana Senator Fred H. Mills, Jr. – District 22, and Mr. Jack Montoucet, Secretary of Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries for their support of the recreational boating program that reinforces nautical tourism as a means of growing the travel industry, while also increasing the local economy,” the mayor said.
