“When I first saw it I couldn’t believe my eyes. All I could do was sit down and cry,” said shrimper Preston Dore choking up. “Five years of work, gone. I don’t know what to do next.” Photo: Preston Done
by Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News Editor
For every hurricane during the past 40-years Preston Dore has rode out the storms at the Delcambre docks on his shrimp boat. After Katrina, Gustav, Isaac and a host of others, both he and the boat have walked away mostly unscathed. Hurricane Ida was different. The storm has cost him his boat, his livelihood and has stripped away his dignity as a provider for his family.
Demi Rae Dore sits on the Delcambre dock with the shrimper her dad named after her. Photo: Preston Dore
Unlike previous hurricanes his current boat, the Demi Rae named after his 7-year-old daughter, was not in its Delcambre berth, but in a Chauvin dry-dock sitting on wooden blocks held steadily in place by a small crane. The boat was an easy target for the storm’s 170-mph winds as it passed over bayou after bayou ripping the heart out of Louisiana’s seafood industry.
During the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill Dore carried chemicals used to disperse the oil from the spill on his previous vessel, the Sea Express 5. The chemicals and the treated waters of the Gulf took a heavy toll on the boat and equipment. Five years ago he bought his current boat.
“Before the oil spill I made a good living on the water,” he told Gulf Seafood News. “I was well-known for being one of the best shrimpers in the business. I have been in the process of completely updating the Demi Rae it to have all the latest equipment, as well as being able to operate it single-handed.”
Dore said this was not going to be the usual shrimp boat. With an investment of more than a half-million dollars it was to have state-of-the-art riggings; as well as an owner’s suite equipped with everything including the bathtub. As Hurricane Ida approached the Louisiana coast, the Demi Rae sat exposed to the elements waiting for its bottom to be reconditioned, the final step before Dore could return to the water.
“I put my heart and soul into that boat,” said Dore with a crackle in his voice.” Photo: Preston Dore
“I put my heart and soul into that boat,” he said with a crackle in his voice. “My family has been living off the income from some rental properties we owned. I finally had to sell those so I could have the bottom of the boat finished.
As Ida crossed the coastline, Dore spent his first hurricane not aboard his boat nervously at his Delcambre home.
When the wind and rain subsided the shrimper navigated his way the two-hours toward Chauvin to check on the condition of his vessel.
“When I first saw it I couldn’t believe my eyes. All I could do was sit down and cry,” said Dore choking up. “Five years of work, gone. I don’t have any insurance, who can pay $25,000 a year for insurance and still make a living?”
The Demi Rae lay on her side with wooden blocks piercing her side. The two-chain hoist and small crane holding her on the blocks crushing the newly installed riggings.
The Text
As Dore sat teary eyed beside his beloved boat, he typed a text to Louisiana Sea Grant at LSU extension agent Julie Falgout.
Preston working on the Demi Rae. Photo: Preston Done
This is Preston Dore in delcambre. First I would like to thank you for all you do for the shrimping industry. You are truly amazing even since you have suffered from IDA you still advocate for our fishing communities. Thank you, you are amazing❤
I need some help and hoping you can put me in the rite direction. I am a shrimper of over 40 years. Lost most everything to past storms and BP oil spill. The last 5 years was rebuilding a new shrimp boat (m/v DEMI RAE), named after my 7 year old daughter. I put my life savings and even recently had to sell my rental properties, my only income to finish this vessel. I was on last stage of finishing her, which was redoing the bottom. My boat was in chauvin at gulfboud shipyard on blocks when hurricane ida hit. She got severely damaged and lays on her side. Looks like damages could exceed 200k and I have over 500k invested with no insurance. Is there any help from government in this situation. To complicate matters even more I let my commercial fishing license go a few years ago as times got hard trying to rebuild the DEMI RAE. I really hated to tx you as I know you also have your hands full but just don’t know were to turn.
When Falgout first started to read the text she thought it was a thank you. As she read on her fleeting feeling of joy disappeared.
“When I saw “you are amazing” in the text I thought it was such a sweet thought, then my heart just sank as I read about the unthinkable position the storm had placed this fisherman,” said the Sea Grant agent. “It hit me that he is just one of hundreds of fishermen in the same boat. Uninsured and with no way to make a living.”
It was not the first time that week that Falgout had been hit with the fact that Ida took a deadly toll on the Louisiana seafood community. A week after the storm made landfall she returned to her East Houma homestead to find it without a roof and many of its walls.
Demi Rae Dore and the vessel named after her. Photo: Preston Dore
“I was stunned looking at it for the first time. I was just paralyzed. My husband Dean had almost finished completely remodeling the house and we were going to prepare the grounds for our daughter’s wedding next year. That ship has sailed for sure,” said Falgout.
The bayou woman remembers Hurricane Betsy in 1965. “It was a monster of a storm. Hurricane Ida’s destruction was so much worse,” she said. “Of all the hurricanes I have been through this is the worse destruction I have ever seen.”
The Sea Grant agent says there is little financial assistance available to fishermen who have lost an uninsured vessel. Even with insurance, policies usually pay out far less than the worth of the boat. In addition there is no FEMA funds available for businesses or vessels.
A week after the storm made landfall Julie Falgout returned to her East Houma homestead to find it without a roof and many of its walls.
Falgout says that the Louisiana Congressional Delegation is trying to fast track disaster funds without waiting for figures. Also the Gulf Seafood Foundation has put together a coalition of various seafood and state organizations to try and help secure relief. “We need an improved “Back to the Dock” program that was devised after Hurricane Katrina, and a hell of lot of private philanthropy.”
“Every time we have something like this happen we loose a significant part of the state’s seafood fleet,” she explained. “Fishermen either can’t or don’t want to go back to the water. Docks and processors face similar issues. I know of one dock that will not rebuild after being completely destroyed.”
For Preston Dore things are not looking good. According to Falgout there are few options to secure money for repair, the best being a loan from a bank. “If he can’t get the money to repair his boat or sell it, he may have to sell it for parts or scrap. That’s a hard thing for any fishermen to say.”
What is Dore’s plan? “All I can do right now is pray for a miracle.”
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