Tag Archives: FEMA
Florida Gov. DeSantis To Seek Aid For Fishing Industry
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday said the state will seek federal help for the fishing industry in the Big Bend region, as cleanup efforts moved into a second day from the devastation caused by Hurricane Idalia. Meanwhile, the state reported its first confirmed death related to Idalia, while utility workers still had about 135,000 customer power outages to tackle from the Category 3 storm, many in sparsely populated areas of North Florida. The governor’s plan to seek help from the U.S. Department of Commerce for the fishing industry followed White House approval of a separate request for a major disaster declaration. >>click to read<< 17:22
No federal fishing disaster decision
FEMA has given out more than five billion dollars to help people recover from Hurricane Ian, but none of that money has gone specifically to the fishing industry. Last week the federal government sent a letter saying “It still hasn’t decided if it’s going to declare a federal fishery disaster.” Ian devastated the fishing industry in southwest Florida. Fort Myers Beach the shrimping fleet went from 50 vessels to just 3 after the storm. On Pine Island, 80 percent of fish houses suffered damage. Read the letter, video, >click to read< 10:06
The Oysterman, the Pirate and Louisiana’s disappearing wetlands
Maurer was in a bind. Hurricane Ida had decimated the supply chain. The storm swept through the heart of Louisiana’s $2.4bn seafood industry, which supports one out of 70 jobs in the state, leaving him with no roads, no power, and very little seed. He decided he needed to find “new routes to market, whether by boat or by land. Go pirate on them.” He meant this literally. As he looked for a solution among the lingering chaos of the hurricane, he thought of the notorious pirate Jean Laffite, who once operated out of Grand Isle. Maurer decided he would follow the same route: He bought Les Bons Temps to see if he could bring his catch to town directly, bypassing the wrecked roads and bridges. photos, >click to read< 15:12
Hurricane Ida turns Houma oysterman’s life upside down
For more than six hours, fifth-generation Houma oysterman Jacob David Hulse; his girlfriend, Lindsey Willis; and his dog, Change; huddled inside a friend’s oyster shop as Hurricane Ida slammed ashore Aug. 29. As the more than 140-mph winds started to subside, Hulse, 33, thought he had gone through the worst of it. But as many Louisiana fishermen are finding out, his troubles were only beginning. “Many in our Louisiana seafood families like the Hulses are still homeless from the hurricanes and not sure from where their next meal is coming,” said Ewell Smith a board member with the Gulf Seafood Foundation and a member of the Louisiana Fishing Community Recovery Coalition. >click to read< 11:30
Jean Lafitte-area fishermen struggle with wrecked boats, lost businesses and lots of mud
When Hurricane Ida blew through lower Jefferson Parish in late August, it brought wind, rain and surge. What it left behind was mud,,, Larry Helmer, 70, who’s been fishing local waters his whole life, can’t get either of his boats out from where they’re docked at his home on Anthony Lane in Barataria. “If I can’t get out on my boat, I can’t go fish, and at my age, I can’t go on no job hunt,” he said, chuckling ruefully. Helmer’s son, who lives two canals away, is in the same position. “He can’t even go to work. His boat is just about on bottom,” Helmer said. “It’s terrible, man — it’s just terrible. The mud from this hurricane just filled these canals in.” >click to read< 07:36
Louisiana: Young fishermen face uncertain future after Hurricane Ida
Devin Verdin kept his boat tied near one of the camps along Bayou Grand Caillou during Hurricane Ida. Despite the widespread destruction, Verdin remains certain he’ll remain a shrimper. Along with Evan Solet and Elise Garibotte, Verdin was heading up to David Chauvin’s Seafood Company to gather ice as they prepared to go shrimping Tuesday night. The company is one of few in Dulac able to operate since Ida hit Aug. 29. Seth Billiot said he has tried to apply for help from FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration but was told he doesn’t qualify. >Click to read< 08:16
Morganza opening may drown the livelihoods of thousands of Gulf fishermen
Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser is supporting a Gulf-wide coalition that wants FEMA to declare a state of emergency specific to Gulf seafood and its related industries. This comes as U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prepares to open the Morganza Spillway, sending fresh water into a fragile ecosystem that is home to a wide variety of Gulf seafood.,,, “The opening of the Morganza Spillway will cause severe damage to the Atchafalaya Basin, our nation’s largest estuary,” said Nungesser. “The opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway earlier this year already has negatively impacted seafood in lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne, as well as fisheries in Mississippi. >click to read<18:31
Fishing industry still reeling from Sandy [Asbury Park Press, N.J.]
“Now you can’t even get rid of them. Nobody’s buying male crabs,” Isaksen said. At the water’s edge, captain Michael Chanowich and dock worker David Tauro unloaded the co-op’s other post-Sandy mainstays: low-price skates and dogfish. “We cleaned up as best we can … but we don’t have the money to put this place back together,” Isaksen said. “When are we going to get some help? We called FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) but they said they can’t do anything for us.” So far, the SBA loan program is not promising, said James Lovgren, a captain with the Fishermen’s Dock Cooperative in Point Pleasant Beach who looked into the loan program for his fishermen. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/news/article.asp?docKey=600-201212060805KRTRIB__BUSNEWS_17736_5006-1¶ms=timestamp||12/06/2012%208:05%20AM%20ET||headline||Fishing%20industry%20still%20reeling%20from%20Sandy%20%5BAsbury%20Park%20Press%2C%20N.J.%5D||docSource||McClatchy-Tribune||provider||ACQUIREMEDIA||bridgesymbol||US;BAC&ticker=BAC