Six months after the storm Chris Ronquille. has built new docks, with an office high atop. Lacking insurance coverage all new expenses comes out of pocket, $400,000 out of pocket. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
by Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News Editor
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.
“I didn’t think the hurricane would be that bad, but then everything changed at the last minute,” said Chris Ronquille standing on his dock on Bayou Barataria. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
“I didn’t think the hurricane would be that bad, but then everything changed at the last minute,” he said standing on a brand new dock. “Right here where I am standing we had 12-feet of water. My office was underneath the water. The storm flipped it on its side.”
Before Ida business was booming. Ronquille says he regularly has approximately 30 boats unloading blue crabs at his docks. “Crabs were biting, and the crabbers were getting a good price for their catch,” he said.
Ronquille had evacuated for the storm, but returned by boat immediately after it had passed.
“I was coming down the bayou and it was bad. Houses were moved; sheds and debris were floating everywhere. It was pretty bad, the worse I had ever seen it,” he said, choking up a little remembering.
Satellite photos of Bayou Barataria in the Lafitte before and after Hurricane Ida show the amount of water that inundated the bayou area. Photo: Maxar
Six months after the storm he has built new docks, with an office high atop. Lacking insurance coverage all new expenses comes out of pocket, $400,000 out of pocket. To earn extra money he has been taking odd jobs like working cleanup for the City of Lafitte.
“You know how that goes, you have to do anything you can to say in business,” he said. “I am trying to build it back better to withstand the next time a storm comes. I am making everything stronger and waterproof. I am looking at this as an opportunity, granted a very costly opportunity.”
With a few of his crabbers fishing in the debris filled bayous and lakes, he is trying to meet their needs by starting to fill his first boxes for shipment six months after Ida struck. He just recently got his ice machine working; one producing 6000 lbs. of badly needed ice daily. In addition the cleanup continues and an out building still needs to be constructed.
“I need to get back to working, I still need to get another ice machine,” said the dock owner. “We are coming to the main time, the spring. If we are not ready by next month then that’s it. Hopefully we will be back to where we were.”
Talking with Jim Gossen (r) of the Gulf Seafood Foundation and a member of the Louisiana Fishing Community Recovery Coalition, Ronquille feels it’s vital the coalition emphasizes the importance of receiving adequate infrastructure funds. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
Currently crab prices are approach record highs with Number 1’s paying approximate $5 and $3 for the rest. He says this is the highest he has seen it, especially for females. Crabs from his dock are shipped to Alabama for processing.
According to Briteny Dufrane of the Louisiana Crab Task Force, the industry has rebounded since Ida struck.
“Most docks have reopened and prices are high,” said the member of the Louisiana Fishing Community Recovery Coalition. “But along with the nice price comes higher expenses for the fisherman. The cost of everything is up. Crab traps are extremely high right now, and still rising; same with fuel and bait. It’s safe to say everyone is adapting to our new “normal” way of life. The scenery is different on the water and there’s always a fear of hitting something hiding beneath the surface. Now more than ever fisherman are finding ways to adapt and make it work. It’s a way of life, not just a job.”
She say with the start of Lent she fears locals will be shocked at the price of crabs. Something they use to be able to eat for a fairly cheap price has now skyrocketed.
Chris Seafood docks on Bayou Barataria sit deserted waiting for crabbers to return. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
The Lafitte crab dock owner knows about rising prices and says everything had been a challenge. It is had to anything done, both labor and material are almost non-existent. “Everything is either too high, or they don’t have it. Everything ishard right now.”
The hurricane spared Ronquille’s house with only minor wind damage, and no flooding. His fishermen were not as lucky.
“A majority of my guys have lost their houses completely, or just getting back in their house after fixing it up. The mud was the worse. I never seen it so bad before,” said the owner of Chris Seafood. “At the docks here we had a lot of mud. We had at least a foot everywhere, and some places up to three.”
Ronquille feels it’s vital the Fishing Recovery Coalition emphasizes to Congress the importance of receiving adequate infrastructure funds so docks like his can be rebuilt without hardship to their owners, as well as other parts of the seafood industry.
Everybody is now trying to go back to work. Wade Christian, a Ronquille employee, wears the Gulf Seafood Foundation’s “Helping Hands” gloves. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
In addition affordable crop insurance for fishermen similar to that offered by the Department of Agriculture to farmers.
“Everybody is now trying to go back to work,” said Ronquielle. There is a future here for seafood. This is one of the main places for crabs, we just got a lot of crabs.”
The dock owner, who is pushing 50, says there is a big interest by the younger generation in crabbing. “When I first started no one wanted to crab. But it is different now since we started shipping everything and the price stays high. They like the idea of getting out on the water and being home by five.”
Sitting nearly a half-million in debt, Ronquille feels it would have been nice to have had a loan or grant to help his recovery.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) had a history of turning down loans for the seafood industry because they feel the damage amounts cannot be repaid. “The SBA turned me down for a loan, they don’t know how our business operates,” he said.
“If I another hurricane like Ida comes now I think I will be ok. They way I am fixing everything up. Let’s just hope it doesn’t happen anytime soon.”
Ed, thanks for what you’re doing.
Help stop the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion. Please see my article in THE LENS Feb/21/22
https://thelensnola.org/
I’m promoting the
Combination of Storm Protection with the Expansion of the Oyster Industry.
CPRA should use the MBSD money to build storm protection for LaFitte instead of he 20 square miles of freshwater marsh that will be built by the MBSD over its 50-year life. 20 sq miles of fragile freshwater marsh could be destroyed overnight by the next hurricane.