Louisiana
For Louisiana restaurants, certain seafood costs have risen so much that once-standard fares, such as oyster sandwiches and pastas, are no longer served.
by Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News Editor The pots were hot and the stoves sizzling at NOLA Navy Week’s Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off held on the Riverwalk at the Spanish Plaza behind the Four Seasons Hotel. Naval culinary specialists from France and the United States used to cooking on the high seas were pared with land-loving local Louisiana […]
Sea Grant’s mission is to enhance the practical use and conservation of coastal and marine resources in order to create a sustainable economy and environment. With four hurricanes in two years, Julie Lively, the executive director of Louisiana Sea Grant at LSU, has had to balance the organizational mission with that of assisting the state’s seafood community’s recovery from the storms.
Sitting on a wooden porch swing hanging from what is left of his shrimp dock on Bayou Barataria, Grant Bundy is still in shock. For nore than seven months since Hurricane Ida blew through Jean Lafitte leaving little behind, he has tried and tried; and then tried again to unsuccessfully get a loan from th Small Business Administration (SBA) to fix his docks, only one of two remaining along the bayou.
Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy introduces legislation to rectify long wait by crawfish processors for the final $10.6-million of the $110-million they were awarded by Congress in 2006 for frozen crawfish tails dumping by the Chinese.
Grand Isle aquaculture oysterman Scott Mauer can attest that even the best-laid plans to avoid disaster often go astray. As Hurricane Ida approached Louisiana, his seed-oyster business partner Steve Pollock and him evacuated more than 10-million larva to Texas A&M University, and stored another 20-million at the LSU Sea Grant hatchery on the island. Ida managed to take out those at the hatchery and those in Texas died from unknown causes.
As a child Margot Babin would join her eight siblings harvesting crawfish from their parents rice fields. Her parents Marin and Joanna Durand started the family rice and crawfish business in 1969. Fifty-three years later it is still the Durand family business, with the brothers handling the fields and the sisters operating Teche Valley Seafood, the crawfish processing facility.
Four hurricanes and two tropical storms later, hard hit areas of Louisiana will be the recipient of an unexpected $1.7 billion in federal hurricane relief dollars. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Gov. John Bel Edwards and U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy announced the new funding that provided a major infusion to the $600 million previously approved, raising to more than $1 billion the total amount of Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery money available for recovery from these storms.
Venice Marina hugs the Gulf of Mexico with some of the best fish being landed year-round. Anglers from across the globe bring rod and reel to the famed marina expecting to fill their fishing boats with daily limits. Recently the fishing boats and rods and reels were replaced with airboats loaded with camouflaged rifle-carrying men in search of an invasive species, the Nutria.
Signs of life are returning along Bayou Barataria. Crab boats laden with traps navigate the waterway, careful to avoid unseen debris. Workboats supporting offshore oilrigs also tread lightly through the minefield. Nowhere but nowhere are there signs of recreational fisher casting for their favorite catch. Partly this is because the marina at Jean Lafitte Harbor is barely open seven months after Hurricane Ida dealt its near-fatal blow.
Trapped between Bayou Barataria and The Pen, a lake known for great sport fishing, the docks of Chris Seafood have for more than 50-years been filled with crab boats hugging its piers. That was until Hurricane Ida changed everything for owner Chris Ronquille.
Standing on the porch of the tribal community center six months after Hurricane Ida pummeled his community, Donald Dardar still chokes-up as he remembers seeing the remains of his village for the first time. The area, home to a fishing community of more than 800 Point-au-Chien Native Americans, endured some of the hurricane’s worst destruction leaving in its path unanswered questions on whether to rebuild in an area that is ground zero for the climate crisis.
The annual Oyster South industry symposium isn’t a typical scientific conference. Besides being filled with relevant information on oyster aquaculture, it is also fun. The organization, a charitable foundation supporting shellfish aquaculture in the southern U.S., has members ranging from growers, chefs, wholesalers, gear suppliers, students and food writers.
A silent and deadly cancer is spreading throughout the bayous and rivers of Louisiana; as well as Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri all the way to Illinois, Minnesota and the gates of the Great Lakes. Asian carp has overtaken the Mississippi River System threatening the ecosystem, as well as multi-million dollar recreational and commercial fishing industries.
The National Seafood Council Task Force has released a report highlighting pathways to funding for a National Seafood Marketing Campaign and governing structure considerations for the National Seafood Council.
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