Fishing industry hurting in La.

NEW ORLEANS -- Usually this time of year, Billy Foret would be guiding his 73-foot steel hull boat along the Louisiana coast and pulling in pounds of white shrimp.

Instead, for the past three weeks, he's been pulling soggy drywall and ruined furniture from his flooded home in Chauvin, about 70 miles southwest of New Orleans.

Even if he were able to go out, many of the buying docks and shrimp-processing plants he needs have been wrecked by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which plowed through the area this month.

"Everyone's spending money repairing with no income coming in," Foret said. "Things are looking pretty bad for the fishermen right now."

Gustav and Ike delivered another one-two punch to Louisiana's fishing industry, which was still recovering from the ruin wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita three years ago.

The 2005 storms caused an estimated $582 million in damage to the state's commercial fishers, most of it to the shrimping sector, said Rex Caffey, director of Louisiana State University's Center for Natural Resource Economics & Policy.

Gustav and Ike destroyed not only fishing boats but loading docks, ice factories, processing plants and other crucial components of the industry, Caffey said.

Early estimates show Gustav caused around $76 million worth of damage to the fishery infrastructure, he said. Estimates for Ike are still being compiled.

The destruction along with rising fuel costs and cheaper imported shrimp is taking its toll. "It's a really bad situation," Caffey said. "This has taken a crippled industry and hurt it even more."

Louisiana produces more than one-fourth of the seafood in the continental USA, Caffey said.

On Wednesday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez declared a fishery resource disaster for the Gulf of Mexico. The declaration frees up federal funds to fishermen in Louisiana and Texas and makes fishing businesses eligible for Small Business Administration loans.

Around $175 million in federal funds were earmarked after Katrina to help the Louisiana fishing industry, though most of it went to restoring wrecked habitats where fish and shrimp live and did not go directly to fishermen, Caffey said. Many fishermen were still waiting on federal grants and loans when Gustav and Ike hit, he said.

Clearing storm debris from waterways where fishermen work should be a priority, said Pete Gerica, a fisherman who shrimps in Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne. Gerica tried to go shrimping last week but his boat became entangled in branches and sea grass, bending a propeller.

Katrina wrecked both his boats and his home, he said. Ike destroyed his three ice makers. A lot of the progress made since 2005 — including replacing docks, ice factories and processors — was wiped out during Gustav and Ike, Gerica said.

"A lot of the stuff we did after Katrina to get people back up is gone," he said.

Ironically, Katrina and Rita also helped fishermen organize more rapidly after Gustav and Ike, Gerica said. Conference calls were organized immediately after this year's storms between fishermen throughout southern Louisiana and state and federal officials, assessing damage and plotting strategy — something that took weeks after Katrina, he said.

"We're still in recovery mode from the first one," Gerica said. "So we're more organized."

In Jean Lafitte, about 28 miles south of New Orleans, which was submerged by Ike, fishermen had to deal with wrecked boats and docks along with ruined homes.

By early last week, a lot of the fishermen still hadn't been to their homes, most of which were located in the southern part of the town and received the highest water. The street to that part of town was still not accessible.

"You already had fuel at nearly $4 a gallon," Mayor Tim Kerner said. "Now this comes and makes it so a man can't earn a living. Right now it's extremely hard to be a fisherman."

Gordon Rojas, 68, has been shrimping for more than 40 years in the bayous and bays around Jean Lafitte. His boat survived Gustav and Ike. But the docks and ice factories he needs were destroyed. His house also took on 4 feet of water.

"It used to be a pretty good living ages ago," Rojas said as he waited for another supply truck to arrive. "But everything's against us now. It's a dying business."