Louisiana
Sitting on Bayou Rigaud in Grand Isle at the southernmost end of LA 1, the docks at Blanchard Seafood plant are about as close to the Gulf of Mexico as possible without getting wet. When Hurricane Ida struck the island that all changed.
As the Krewe of Atlas arrived at the Family Gras Music Festival in Metairie on a February Friday night, famed singer Marie Osmond, best known for the Donnie singing with her brother Donnie on the Donnie and Marie show on ABC in the 1970’s, waited to perform. As several New Orleans artists played the greatest hits of local music icon Allen Toussaint, Osmond knew where she would be after the show… at Drago’s Restaurant eating some of it famed Gulf seafood.
Approximately $50 million in grants to support seafood processors, processing facilities and processing vessels through the Seafood Processors Pandemic Response and Safety Block Grant Program (SPRS) will come from the The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This funding is linked to COVID and the pandemic’s impact on the fishing industry.Louisiana Seafood Processors are slated to receive $4.2 million of the available funds.
The cold north wind blew through the open Oak Ridge Community Park shelter in Golden Meadow like an express train passing a through a station. A sweater-clad chef stirred a huge pot of gumbo, while others wearing red aprons with the familiar Shell logo served fried catfish and French fries. At a table at the end, King Cakes anchored a paper tablecloth whipping in the constant breeze. But it was the smiles of the fishermen filling their plates that would be most remembered by the volunteers from across Louisiana
LSU Sea Grant, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and members of the Louisiana Fishing Community Recovery Coalition have crafted a five-page “white paper” on the extreme damage and loss of revenue to the Louisiana seafood industry as a result of four hurricanes during the years of 2020-21. All five sectors of the industry have suffered; commercial fishermen, recreation fishing, docks, processors and marinas.
Needs Assessment for the 2020 and 2021 Hurricanes. White Paper: Louisiana Fishing Community Recovery Coalition.
A recently released report detailing infrastructure, revenue and resource loss to Louisiana Fisheries have prompted a Louisiana Congressmen to ask the Department of Commerce (DOC) to expedite a Fishery Disaster Determination due to major damage related to impacts of Hurricanes Laura, Delta, Zeta and especially Ida.
The plight of the Louisiana fishermen from the four hurricanes over the past two years is starting to get national attention. A February 1st article in the New York Times deals with the plight of the industry since Hurricane Ida, and the effect it is having on the region’s rich culture of food and fishing.
The recently released Infrastructure, Revenue and Resource Losses to Louisiana Fisheries From the Hurricanes of 2020 and 2021 report is historic. “This gives us a golden opportunity to correct a problem that’s longstanding, how the marine industry, particularly the seafood industry is treated in disasters,” said Dr. David Veal, director of the American Shrimp Processors Association.
God gave Louisiana crawfish and Gulf Menhaden to catch them. What God failed to do is correctly synchronize the seasons for their harvest. For the first time crawfish may not be on the Easter dinner menu because bait dealers have ran dry on fish in their warehouses.
Four hurricanes over the course of two-years has cost the Louisiana seafood industry almost a $580 million dollar loss to infrastructure, revenue and resources. A recently released report by Louisiana Sea Grant and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries documents extreme damage and loss of revenue over all five sectors of the industry; commercial fishermen, recreational fishing, docks, processors and marinas.
Life has been like a bowl of gumbo for James Carville, Louisiana’s most famous political consultant. For 77-years he has stirred the hot pot, not always sure of success. But when it comes to making real gumbo, with real seafood, there’s only one he accepts, Louisiana Gulf seafood.
For more than six hours fifth-generation Houma oysterman Jacob David Hulse, his girlfriend Lindsey Willis and his dog Change huddled in an the oyster shop of friend Kenneth (Keno) Templet struggling to keep the walls and roof from caving as the more than 140-mph winds of Hurricane Ida continuously battered away at the structure. When the winds started to subside, Hulse thought he had gone through the worse of it. Like many Louisiana fishermen are finding out, his troubles were only beginning after the storm was finished.
The Twin Parish Port District has received a two million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for infrastructure at the Port of Delcambre. The MARAD Port Infrastructure Development Program grant will fund dock restoration on two aging structures, as well as the construction of a new industrial fabrication facility.
On August 29, 2021 Hurricane Ida blasted ashore along the Louisiana coast almost complete destroying everything in its path. Infrastructure was hard hit, especially infrastructure vital to Louisiana’s $2.4 billion seafood industry. Four months later little has changed, and the state’s fishermen, docks, processors, fish houses and restaurants are wondering if it will ever return.
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