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Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board and Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks Combine Resources
CLARKSDALE, Miss., April 19, 2007 — More than 150 fifth and sixth grade students from Coahoma County Schools recently tested new waters at a fishing rodeo sponsored by the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board (YMDLB) and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP).
Students from Lyon Elementary, Sherard Elementary and Friars Point Elementary Schools were bused to Mile 78 Landside, one of 26 public fishing holes within Coahoma and Tunica counties, to try their hand at catching a prize-winning catfish.
“Many of these young men and women have never held a rod and reel, much less baited a hook,” said Sykes Sturdivant, president, Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board. “Through this partnership, we hope to influence these children’s lives for the better by giving them the chance to try a new experience, one they might enjoy and pursue on their own.”
Sturdivant said that YMDLB hopes to partner with MDWFP to make the rodeo and annual event, each held at YMDL district fishing holes normally open to the public.
Volunteers from the Coahoma Community College baseball and soccer teams helped students catch fish from the netted-off area of the pond stocked with 500 catfish. Approximately 50 of the catfish were tagged, and students redeemed the tags for prizes.
YMDLB board members and staff and MDWFP employees also volunteered.
“We are changing lives,” said Sherry Hazelwood, special projects officer, Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks. “No child should ever miss this moment.”
The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board is a constitutional body of the State of Mississippi headquartered in Clarksdale, Miss., and is comprised of all or portions of 10 Delta counties including, DeSoto, Tunica, Coahoma, Sunflower, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Leflore, Humphreys, Holmes, and Yazoo. The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta Levee Board is responsible for the first 98 miles of mainline Mississippi River levee in the state and 18 miles of backwater levees within the Mississippi Delta. They are also responsible for minor maintenance on some 330 miles of interior rivers and streams.
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