by Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News Editor
Couevas, a former nurse, and her son Shaw (on boat) operate the marina that has been in business since 1984. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
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.
“We definitely took a lick from Hurricane Ida,” said Cissy Couevas who owns and operates the marina with her son Shaw. “We service both recreational and commercial fisherman. The recreational fishermen have not returned because they are afraid to go out in the water with all the debris. Some of their boats run thousands of dollars, they don’t want to have them damage.”
Couevas, a former nurse, and her son Shaw operate the marina that has been in business since 1984. It stands as the last inhabitable southern outpost of Jefferson Parish, with only water and more water between it and Grand Isle.
Cissy Coueras talks with Ewell Smith of the Gulf Seafood Foundation and of Go Fish during a tour of her facilities. Photo: Jim Gossen/Gulf Seafood News
With a full service shipyard, crane and fuel dock on one end, the remaining 18-acres of the marina are devoted to the recreational fishermen, the majority of which came from the Greater New Orleans area. The establishment had a store, restaurant, event facility and even offered a hover boat rides and airboat swamp tours.
“We would get the Alabamans, the Georgians and from all over the country. Right now I don’t have any place for anybody to stay so they don’t want to come down right now. We have an RV park, boat sheds, boat slips and we have a 4000-square foot store, or we had. We also had a bunch of rentals, which we don’t have anymore courtesy of Ida.”
The charter fishing business had 15 rental cabins before the storm all but two are gone. In addition to the cabin damage, a lot of boats were stuck in the mud.
Business Booming Before Storm
“I have never seen this before, all the mud and the debris. I don’t think anyone realizes how hard we were hit down here,” said Cissy. Recreational docks still are not usable. Photo: Ed Lallo: Gulf Seafood News
Before Ida the marina was booming. Recreational fishermen would come for the redfish, bass, catfish or anything they could catch. Finding parking for a trailer would was always challenging because of the crowds. Now there is nothing except deserted or damaged slips and bayous filled with debris.
“The fish have been biting, but the unfortunate reality is it takes more than a full ice chest to provide customers with the five-star charter fishing experience they’re used to in Louisiana,” said Richard Fischer, executive director of the Louisiana Charter Boat Association and member of the Louisiana Fishing Community Recovery Coalition. “Jean Lafitte Harbor is an example of the lodges, restaurants and bars destroyed. Charter captains located where Ida did the most damage are limited to day-tripping drive-ins, completely eliminating the more profitable fly-in and stay customers.”
The marina restaurant, The Barge, was spared from the storm when a single rope tied to a piling kept it from an uncertain fate. Photo Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
Shaw Couevas says recovery from Hurricane Ida has been a struggle. “We feel like we’re on this island by ourselves,” he told FOX Weather Journalist Robert Ray.
Floodwaters from the storm were so bad that caskets were lifted from their tombs and left scattered along streets and buried in mud.
“I have never seen this before, all the mud and the debris. I don’t think anyone realizes how hard we were hit down here,” said Cissy sitting on the deck of a barge that serves as home to the restaurant and a few living quarters. “There’s Grand Isle, open water and then us. We were hit really, really bad. We are still not out of it.”
The former nurse daily gets calls to see if the marina is open or for reservations, but she has no place put them. Beds from the cabin being dried out. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
The former nurse daily gets calls to see if the marina is open or for reservations, but she has no place put them.
“Most don’t even know if we are open yet. Nobody from out-of-town is coming and the locals are all afraid we’re not up and running yet,” she told Gulf Seafood News. “We have the back-down ramp back together, but we still don’t have the wharfs back yet. We only have one type of gas. All of these multiple things make people afraid to come down. If it wouldn’t be for our commercial aspect we wouldn’t have any business at all right now.”
Bayou Cleanup
Bayous need to be dredged for debris and mud. A shrimp boat cannot get out because the bayou has filled with mud. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
The number one need for both her recreational and commercial fishermen is have the bayous dredged for debris because the winter low tides are making the problem worse. She says “everybody’s talking about it but nobody is doing anything. Unless this stuff get’s dredge out the recreational industry is especially in trouble.”
“A boat came into our marina and we said wait, let’s check it out the dock first. We checked the area and found a whole Coke machine under the water. After the hurricane we even had a big sign from Grand Isle in one of the slips here. You just don’t know what’s under the water.”
The family run business had some insurance, but not enough to cover damage caused by the storm.
Both commercial and recreational fishermen have to be care to avoid debris in the water. A sunken boat remains hidden under the water except for the top. Photo: Jim Gossen/Gulf Seafood News
“The only thing that was insured was the store, and that was for $250,000. It was a huge store; I can’t rebuild it for that amount,” she said. “I also had a million dollars worth of inventory and only got $97,000 worth of insurance. What it comes down to is everything else has to come out of my pocket.”
The 62-year-old woman and her son arrived at the marina by boat the day following the storm. “I’ve been around for Besty, and Camille, and Katrina, and Rita; after all of these we did come back. We got in here the next day and have been working on it ever since.”
She says there are so many things she needs for her business to come back and the rest of the world doesn’t understand six-months later the whole area is till suffering.
“We still don’t have all our utilities down here. Half the bayou is not even back yet because there is nothing to come back too,” said the marina owner. “We very seldom have continuous water, the pipes are breaking. People don’t have gas down here. So how do you expect outsiders to come in when they are hearing all of this? There is so much need.”
After surviving possibly the worst hurricane of a lifetime and rebuilding enough to run charter trips again, the phone just hasn’t been ringing for many hard-working Louisiana charter captains. The docks of Big Dog Fishing Charters along Bayou Barataria lie empty. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
Couevas feels it is imperative that both state and national legislators visit and tour the area. To see first hand the destruction, the caskets along the side of the road, the remains of what were people lives.
“Grand Isle they know because a lot of them had camps, but I don’t think they have any idea on how hard we got hit here. How devastated we were, we still are. I can name half my family that is not back yet.”
She emphasizes the need for dredging the bayous and calls upon the Louisiana Fishing Community Recovery Coalition to ensure legislators receive the message.
“The next couple of months will tell if we can get back up and running. If we can get the supplies we need to restart our recreational business,” said Couevas. “The need is so great in our community. We need money coming in to help people rebuild their lives.” Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
“It truly has been a case of adding insult to injury that after surviving possibly the worst hurricane of our lifetime and rebuilding their lives enough to be able and willing to run charter trips again, the phone just hasn’t been ringing for many hard-working Louisiana charter captains because the amenities like Cissy’s surrounding our wonderful fishery are missing,” said Fisher. “Many fishermen have lost everything and may never return to the industry. It’s been a tragedy of epic proportions. Captains don’t want a handout. They want to work. But they can only work if the phone rings.”
Fisher would like potential charter customers to consider returning to establishments like Jean Lafitte Harbor as soon as possible. He says “your hard earned dollars will mean so much more if you choose to spend them in the central coast of Louisiana.”
For Couevas good news comes in small increments. “I do have my ice house back up and running and supplies are starting to trickling in. The next couple of months will tell if we can get back up and running. If we can get the supplies we need to restart our recreational business,” she said. “The need is so great in our community. We need money coming in to help people rebuild their lives.”
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