“Hurricane Ida devastated us,” said oysterman Mark Naquin. “We evacuated before it struck. When I came back I could have cried. It was horrible. All my docks were almost gone and two boats were sunk.” Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
by Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News Editor
Before Hurricane Ida, Montegut oysterman Mark Naquin admits the last couple of year’s production on his leases was slow. He had hope 2021 would be better. Recent plantings showed baby oysters everywhere. Then the storm undid his hard work leaving his business in shambles.
“Hurricane Ida devastated us,” said the 60-year-old Point-au-Chein Native American. “We evacuated before it struck. When I came back I could have cried. It was horrible. All my docks were almost gone and two boats were sunk. My best boat the Taylor Louise; $40,000 sitting in the bayou beneath the Humble Canal Bridge.”
Starting his oyster career working for Motivate Seafood at the age of 16, a year later Naquin paid taxes for the first time while working for famed oysterman Wilbert Collins of Golden Meadows. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
Before Ida Naquin’s Mark Oysters had ten boats, and 20 additional fishermen, working his more than 16,000 acres of leases in the Gulf waters off Montegut, located near Houma. At times boats would barely get buy bringing in 15 to 20 sacks a day, but then it it would shoot up to more than 100 sacks a day.
“Some of the guys working for me also lost their boats. There is one still on the bank across the bayou,” he said sitting beside a recently repaired portion of his more than 200 feet of dock.
Mark’s Oysters would regularly load three trucks a week for shipment to Alabama or Texas before the hurricane. An oysterman all his life, he grew up in the nearby Point aux Chene fishing village. A rough-and-tumble youth he described his early life “something out of the old wild west. Everyone I knew, knew how to fight.”
Starting his oyster career working for Motivate Seafood at the age of 16, a year later he paid taxes for the first time while working for famed oysterman Wilbert Collins of Golden Meadows.
In 2007, after a few years of freelancing his oyster talents, he founded Mark’s Oyster’s.
Naquin works the leases with his son-in-law Blain Verdan to get one of the freezer trucks up and running. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
Before the storm they had been working on the leases, laying down limestone and shells and planting seed oysters on cultch.
Before Ida Naquin, who works the leases with his son-in-law Blain Verdan, was hoping for good year. Load upon load of limestone and cultch with seed oysters had been laid.
“It was looking really good,” said Verdan standing on the dock next to his father-in-law. “We went out with a dredge before the storm, and every spot we planted was looking really good. On most shells there were four to five baby oysters.”
Naquin says after the hurricane passed in areas they checked all those baby oysters were gone. “I still hope this going to be a good year. There are still some areas that we didn’t check because they are closed. We should be able to find something.”
Blain Verdan shovels oyster shells used as cultch on their leases. Before Ida they had planted new cultch with seed oysters and it was showing promise. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
The oysterman hopes to find enough oysters to start fishing again. He wants his fishermen to be able to return to the water. Since the storm the locals fishermen have been working on crews repairing house in order to pay bills. “I am glad they found some work because I didn’t have any work for them,” he said.
With no insurance, he does not have an accurate figure on the amount of damage from the story. He says, “It’s quite a few dollars.” The small oyster business, one of three along Bayou Vermillion, lost not only property, but also oysters in the cold storage readied for shipment.
Seven months after the storm his boats still have not returned to the water because closures by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries he limited his ability work his leases. “I don’t know why but some areas are closed until May. Those that are open I haven’t found to much,” he said “I won’t be back in business until May it look like, unless something changes.”
At the ripe old age of 60 he says he’ll come back with the help of has a son and son-in-law. I’m going to try, yea I’m going to try and come back,” he told Gulf Seafood News. “I have seen it bad already. Not this bad. But I ‘ve seen it bad already. We’re going to give it what we got.”
Out-of-Pocket Repairs
With repairs coming out of his pocket, his wife Taylor says they are in need funds put new cultch back down. “We bought cultch, we planted a lot of barges of cultch. We were getting a lot of baby oysters before the hurricane, now they are all gone, and so is our money,” she said. “We still have to pay for the leases, even though they are not producing since the hurricane. We haven’t had a nickel coming in since the storm. We’ve had no help, not a nickel from anyone.”
Naquin with his wife Taylor and son-in-law Blain Verdan on their newly build dock wearing the Gulf Seafood Foundation “Helping Hands” gloves. They are ready to try and fight back. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
She says the business is in Catch-22 because they have a little money in the bank they cannot get assistance like food stamps. “We don’t get unemployment like a business. No food stamps. Nothing. No help from nobody.”
“Nobody’s ever giving me nothing. I built everything I got. Nobody gave me nothing for that,” says the oysterman. “I had an SBA loan when I started off for the cooler. I paid that off. Don’t get me wrong; I didn’t do this dock at one time. I did it a little bit at a time as I was growing.”
Some of the guys working for Naquin also lost their boats. One sits on the banks of Bayou Terrebonne near his docks. Photo: Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News
During a visit by members of the Louisiana Fishing Community Recovery Coalition, Naquin touted the need for available low cost crop insurance, similar to that of farmers, could help oystermen get through storms. “That’s what we are, farmers. We plant. We don’t plant seed, but we plant shells and rocks,” said the oysterman. “We spend a lot of money. There is the cost of the rocks, fuel and labor. Crop insurance could help for sure.”
“The devastation that still remains. The governor needs to step in because he has the power to get to Joe Biden and ask for Hurricane assistant. We lost our boats, we lost our livelihood. Everything is still buried in mud, and we have had no help. Nothing. Nothing,” she said.
According to Naquin most fishermen are ready to get back on the water. “That’s all they do,” he said. “That’s all they do.”
Great story although sad. The fishermen in Grand Isle lost a lot too.