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S u n d ay, S e p t e m b e r 13, 2026
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SpaceX likely to transform economy in Acadiana Texas location gained hotels, tourism, jobs
BY ADAM DAIGLE
Acadiana business editor STAFF PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER
Josie Pry, left, approaches an experimental aquaculture farm operated by Dauphin Island Sea Lab off the coast of Alabama while Ashley McDonald stands atop the project’s platform. They are raising redfish in the floating pen, the only one of its kind currently being operated in the Gulf.
FARMING FISH
Aquaculture experiments are emerging in the Gulf, prompting intense debate. For Louisiana, its seafood industry and culture, the stakes are enormous. BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer
The redfish were biting out in the Gulf, but not in the way they’re usually caught. Instead, about 1,000 of them in total, all around 10 inches long, were in an artificial pen enclosed by netting, a machine on the surface tossing out tiny food pellets every five minutes. Ashley McDonald, the scientist managing what is currently the only finfish farm in the Gulf’s open waters, stood atop a yellow platform surrounding the wind-swept pen, waves lapping against its sides. She reflected on the smallscale but compelling aquaculture experiment. “We can grow fish because we have funding to do it,” she said. “Does that mean that that’s actually economically viable?” It is a question rooted in a rising moment of peril for the Gulf, and it holds high-stakes consequences for Louisiana and the rest of the states along its shores. The floating aquaculture platform operated by the Dauphin Island Sea Lab off the coast of Alabama is scientific in nature, designed to shed light on whether such small projects can be ecologically and economically sound. But it may offer a glimpse of the future. A warming climate, overfishing, economic opportunities and Americans’ voracious appetite for seafood are building momentum for large-scale fish farming in the
STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
Commercial fishermen Luke Callaway, left, and Wilfred Gomez unload their catch at Harlon’s LA Fish and Seafood in Kenner.
SEA OF
TROUBLES Second in a series
Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump has renamed the Gulf of America. It would mark a monumental shift in the country’s commercial fishing industry, as well as for a water body more known for its oil rigs, barrier islands and beaches. For supporters, it is a way to reduce the huge number of imported seafood consumed by Americans, currently around 85% of the total by some counts.
But industrial-scale Gulf aquaculture is intensely controversial, with serious environmental considerations, the risk of hurricanes and concerns from traditional commercial fishermen, including Louisiana’s struggling shrimpers. Some large-scale aquaculture operations in other countries have led to escaped fish, the spread of disease, the misuse of antibiotics and harmful pollution, among other problems. Those pushing for fish farms in the Gulf say such problems have been accounted for and overcome in their plans, while noting the strict requirements for federal permits and related regulations.
ä See FISH FARMS, page 6A
Every time a rocket launches at SpaceX’s south Texas site, about 20,000 people stay at hotels to watch it take off into space. They are referred to as rocket watchers. In Vermilion Parish, where SpaceX is planning a $100 billion launch site near Pecan Island that could start launching rockets in 2030, there are only three hotels of significance, with the largest being a three-story Best Western with fewer than 200 rooms. Hotel construction will be among the visible changes to the area’s economy as the first rocket launch nears, said Gilberto Salinas, president and “Our CEO of the Greater Brownsville Economic Development Starbase Corp. Downtown Brownsville is going to is about 20 miles from the be larger south Texas SpaceX complex, than the known as known as Starbase. Expect increases in jobs, one in Texas. education, tourism and loIf I was a cal spending. In Brownsville, betting man, SpaceX contributed $13 billion I would say to the regional economy over that the jobs a two-year span, according to numbers a report the company released last year. The city will host the would third annual SpaceFest later probably this month as a nod to its newdouble est industry. within the Change should come quickly to Vermilion Parish and the first several region, Salinas said, as SpaceX years of the builds what Elon Musk said project.” will be the world’s largest TROY WAYMAN, rocket launch site. “If we were to use Browns- One Acadiana ville as an example, you’re go- president and ing to see growth really, really CEO fast,” Salinas said. “Leadership there needs to convene all the different entities to plan for this. My only advice is, if you think you’re thinking big, you’re not thinking big enough.” It might take months for any of those changes to happen in Acadiana, where the announcement came less than a month ago. Meetings are happening at the local and state levels, said One Acadiana President and CEO Troy Wayman, including meetings on workforce needs with all the state’s universities and community colleges. In Brownsville, the population has increased by 4,000 since the start of the year, Salinas said. The population of Cameron County grew by 23,000 between 2010 and 2025, and the county has gained almost 20,000 jobs since 2018,
ä See SPACEX, page 7A
Entergy begins power line work for Meta’s data center But rural landowners are fighting back
through the swamp, bumping into the occasional cypress tree. Dragonflies buzzed lazily in the August afternoon heat. Parnell’s father, Harvey Perry, sat on the bow. BY SAM KARLIN As the boat arrived at a clearing, Staff writer the landscape changed abruptly. CALHOUN BRAKE, La. — A baby alli- Towering electrical transmission gator scrambled off a log as Par- lines — “high lines,” as Parnell calls nell Perry weaved his mud boat them — came into view above.
WEATHER HIGH 92 LOW 75 PAGE 6B
The swamp is more than 30 miles northwest of Meta’s $50 billion “Hyperion” data center, in Holly Ridge. But the effects of the massive data center are already being felt here. Contractors turned a property down the road into a dirt pit, and they’ve been hauling earth to a site next door to the property, where Entergy is building a new
substation. Now, the Perry family is fighting in court with Entergy over whether the utility should be able to use eminent domain laws to overtake land and force its way through the Brake — and Parnell’s backyard — to build a series of new transmission lines to power Meta’s data center. Doing so would require
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clearing part of the swamp. Ultimately, Entergy would extend the clearing to build another set of lines next to the existing ones. “We feel like they’re taking private land for private gain,” said Parnell, 56, who works in telecommunications.
ä See DATA CENTER, page 4A
102ND YEAR, NO. 75