By MICHAEL RUBINKAM and MATT ROURKE

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — U.S. authorities seized 33,000 pounds, or 15,000 kilograms, of cocaine from a ship at Philadelphia’s port in what they described as one of the largest drug busts in American history.

They said the haul could have been worth more than $1 billion on the street.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia announced the massive bust on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, saying that law enforcement agents found the cocaine on a ship at the Packer Marine Terminal. Two members of the crew were arrested and face federal charges.

Agents with dogs swarmed the colossal ship Tuesday afternoon, including one officer who could be seen climbing into the back of a large red container on wheels. Court documents said the bust began Monday.

The ship’s second mate, Ivan Durasevic, and another crew member, Fonofaavae Tiasage, were charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine aboard a ship. An online court docket did not list attorneys for the defendants. It wasn’t clear whether other crew members would face charges.

The drug seizure is the latest in a series of large cocaine busts along the East Coast. In a March bust in Philadelphia, drug dogs sniffed out 1,185 pounds (538 kilograms) of cocaine worth about $38 million — at that time the city’s largest seizure of the drug in more than two decades.

In February, customs agents seized 3,200 pounds (1,451 kilograms) at the Port of New York and New Jersey with a street value estimated at $77 million. That was the largest cocaine bust at the ports since 1994.

Online ship trackers said the vessel detained in Philadelphia sails under the flag of Liberia and arrived in Philadelphia after 5 a.m. Monday. The ship’s previous ports of call were the Bahamas on June 13, Panama on June 9, Peru on May 24 and Colombia on May 19, records show.

Federal authorities say Colombia is the primary supplier of cocaine to the U.S.

The MSC Gayane’s owner, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co., said in a statement it was “aware of reports of an incident at the Port of Philadelphia in which U.S. authorities made a seizure of illicit cargo.” The privately owned Swiss shipping company said it “takes this matter very seriously and is grateful to the authorities for identifying any suspected abuse of its services.”

Tuesday’s seizure did not set a U.S. record. A 1989 bust in downtown Los Angeles netted almost 43,000 pounds (19,504 kilograms) of the drug.

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Michael Rubinkam reported from northeastern Pennsylvania.

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana’s governor says floodwaters from the Midwest are severely hurting people who make their living from coastal seafood, so he’s asking the federal government to declare a fisheries disaster for the state.

Floodwaters rushing from the Bonnet Carré Spillway north of New Orleans have killed oysters, hurt fish catches and damaged livelihoods, Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

The fresh water has driven crabs, shrimp and fish out of bays and marshes and into saltier water where they can survive. But oysters are stuck — glued to the bottom.

The full impact won’t be known for some time because the spillway, which protects New Orleans’ levees by directing huge amounts of Mississippi River water into usually brackish Lake Pontchartrain, remains open, Edwards said in a letter sent Thursday and released Monday.

If a long-range forecast of little rain holds up, spillway closing might begin in about four weeks, Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Matt Roe said Monday.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant asked Ross on May 31 for a fisheries disaster declaration, which would make federal grants, loans and other aid available to affected people. It would open the way for Congress to appropriate money to help fishermen and businesses that rely on them.

Commercial fishing isn’t the only thing in trouble, Edwards said, because statewide landings of speckled seatrout and redfish are down.

“Such low catches invariably lead to heavy economic impacts to those businesses that support the recreational fishing industry such as marinas and bait shops,” he wrote.

Louisiana’s oyster harvest is 80{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b} below average for this time of year and more oysters are expected to die as temperatures rise, according to a preliminary report on the department’s website. Shrimp landings were down 63{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b} and blue crab landings down 45{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b} in April from the five-year average. There’s been a drop in the fish catch, but it hasn’t reached the statewide average of 35{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b} needed for a federal fisheries disaster declaration, the report says.

“We’ve been dealing with the river since October,” said Acy J. Cooper Jr., president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association “That’s a long time it’s been high.”

The die-offs are as bad in Mississippi. Joe Spraggins, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, said fresh water has killed 80{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b} or more of the state’s oysters. He said crabs are down about 40{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b} and brown shrimp landings are down more than 70{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b} from a five-year average.

Marine animals require certain amounts of salt in the water around them. Oysters can tolerate a wide range of salinity, but a long spell of fresh water coupled with high temperatures can be lethal. Shrimp, crabs and fish simply swim to saltier areas.

Shrimp are now in places only larger boats can reach, Cooper said.

In addition, nutrients in river water nourish algae blooms so intense that their decomposition on the sea floor consumes oxygen, creating a dead zone every summer for thousands of square miles off the coast. This year’s floods could bring a near-record dead zone, scientists have said.

The Mississippi River watershed drains 41{99cd714f394079a7f0ed2eb1518dd31342ff3ceb5b6c267c3ad8acd5b5a7d66b} of the continental United States, and the middle of North America has had an awfully wet year.

The prolonged flooding has raised the Mississippi so high for so long that for the first time ever, the Army Corps of Engineers opened the Bonnet Carré (pronounced “Bonnie Carrie”) twice this year, displacing Lake Pontchartrain’s usually brackish water and flushing out much of the Mississippi Sound. The water is also high to the west, where the Atchafalaya River distributes Mississippi River water through Cajun Country swamps.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists said Friday that they’re investigating whether the floodwater and lingering effects of the BP oil spill contributed to the deaths of at least 279 bottlenose dolphins from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, triple the usual number for this time of year.

The high water may last “well through the summer,” Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Assistant Secretary Patrick Banks said Thursday.

“The difficulty is,” he said, “when will this even be over?”

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Video reporter Stacey Plaisance contributed from Baton Rouge.