Tag Archives: Louisiana
Destin convoy: Brothers helping brothers ‘because we should’
Taking everything from generators to Gatorade, a group of Destin fishermen and others loaded up in the wee hours of Thursday morning and headed to Louisiana to help those in need after Category 4 Hurricane Ida ravaged the Gulf state. “We’re doing it because we should. They would do it for us,” said Capt. Travis Ream. Ream was one of 18 people in a nine-truck convoy of sorts, with two trailers in tow, that headed out Thursday at 3 a.m. to make the haul to Louisiana. “We’re a fishing community and 40% of our business comes out of Louisiana,” Krebs said. “We’re just like brothers … we’re all in this together.” >click to read< 08:34
Grand Isle, Louisiana: Extensive damage to many boats in the fishing community, photos.
Damage from Hurricane Ida is still being assessed after it made landfall on Sunday. The storm caused at least four deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi, while thousands more were left without power and continued flooding. One area that saw extensive damage was Grand Isle, a fishing community in southeastern Louisiana, also known as the Cajun Riviera. Boats were flipped over and left sideways in the water and along roads. Roofs of many lake houses were swept away by the storm’s strong winds and rain. 55 Photos, >click to read< 16:55
It’s bad. Hurricane Ida death toll rises, alligator kills man, highway collapses killing two
More than 1million individuals in Louisiana stay with out energy and are dealing with weeks with out it in stifling warmth and humidity.,, As the flood waters subside, communities are actually confronted with an arduous clean-up and injury restore mission and emergency providers have warned that within the days forward, the death toll is probably going to rise as extra individuals are discovered. Officials are additionally anticipating a drastic spike in COVID instances, with the storm making a ‘good petri dish’ for unfold of the virus. Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser mentioned on Tuesday morning that crews would exit in boats and high-water vans ‘at first mild’ to discover any survivors. photo’s, >click to read< 08:03
Louisiana: Coast Guard conducts Hurricane Ida post-storm overflights along the Gulf Coast
The Coast Guard is conducting critical incident search and rescue overflights and assessing for damage Monday along the Gulf Coast Region of Louisiana following Hurricane Ida. Assets conducted critical incident search and rescue overflights and assessing for damage Monday along the Gulf Coast Region of Louisiana. Photos, >click to read< 14:39
Hurricane Ida: Moving north into the Gulf, expected to strengthen to Cat 4
Ida, currently a Category 1 hurricane, is expected to make landfall late Sunday or early Monday. Sunday is the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Watches and warnings are in effect for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Saturday could be rainy in south Louisiana, making storm prep and evacuations more complicated, forecasters said. The rain is not from Hurricane Ida but from another disturbance moving over the state. Lots of details, >click to read<, to be updated. Life-threatening winds, storm surge, flooding and tornadoes from Hurricane Ida are expected Sunday. 11:04
Louisiana sues NMFS over ‘devastating’ rule for its shrimpers
Louisiana has sued the National Marine Fisheries Service in New Orleans federal court to stop it from implementing a regulation that obliges certain shrimp fishermen to install devices that keep endangered sea turtles out of their catch. In a Wednesday complaint, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said the rule that took effect on Aug. 1, about a week before the beginning of the state’s shrimping season, will have “devastating consequences” on the fishermen’s already thin profit margins, and has sowed confusion with fishermen unable to find enough suppliers of so-called turtle-excluder devices for their fishing nets because the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the supply chain. >click to read< 19:38
Delcambre Shrimp Festival, Blessing of the Fleet Set for August 18th – 22nd
From shrimp to sugar and gumbo, Iberia Parish is getting ready for the busy fall festival season with three major festivals to be held in person this year. Shrimp rules at the Delcambre Shrimp Festival, which celebrates the town of Delcambre’s local shrimping industry with a street fair, delicious dishes and top notch entertainment. This year’s festival is set for Aug. 18-22. >click to read< For more information and the complete schedule of events, visit ShrimpFestival.net or email [email protected]
Persistence, ability to overcome adversity keeps this local trawler going after 30+ years
The job of a trawler is the same every day: catch shrimp. But the opponent one is up against (weather, seas, Mother Nature) is always slightly different each day. Being able to adjust to the unknown is Thomas Crosby’s specialty on the water. It’s a skill he believes allows him to be a good fisherman. The captain of the ‘Limited Edition’ since the late 1980s, Crosby has been on the water for as long as he can remember. The experienced captain said a good trawler is capable of adapting, adjusting and rolling with the punches, even if they come often and from a lot of unexpected directions. >click to read< 18:28
An oysterman’s new worry: Will state’s coastal plan wash out his business?
Terry Shelley has spent his entire working life as a commercial fisherman. Before he was a full-time oyster farmer and harvester, he spent the first part of his career harvesting shrimp and reef fish. He’s seen a lot, but not a pileup of challenges like now. Back in September, Hurricane Zeta rumbled over small-town Port Sulphur, Louisiana, where the family’s oyster farm and processing center are based. The Shelleys lost half their cages, and they only managed to retrieve about half of that. Already by then, the Coronavirus pandemic had temporarily halted the supply lines Shelley Farms uses to sell its oysters. Now, after losing most of his oyster crop last year, Mr. Shelley has another worry on his mind. Louisiana coastal planners are pushing a $2 billion project proposal designed to fight back against the trend of persistent coastal erosion. >click to read< 15:24
Sen. John Kennedy – Sea turtle regulations hindered search for Seacor mariners
Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy criticized the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in a letter this week, claiming regulations for shrimpers caused an unnecessary hindrance in the search for missing Seacor Power members. Kennedy said he issued his letter after volunteers with the Cajun Navy said NOAA voiced strong opposition to the use of trawling nets in the recovery effort due to concern over federal regulations related to sea turtles. Kennedy alleges in his letter that NOAA would not allow volunteer shrimp boats to use nets with tied turtle excluder devices, knowns as TEDs, for recovery efforts. >click to read< 09:09
What’s good for America?!!: Impact of Foreign Workers on American Jobs a Contentious Issue in US
The colossal impact of immigrant labor in the United States extends to Louisiana’s struggling fisheries. “I’ve been hiring workers from Mexico, Honduras and everywhere else for 20 years,” Dean Blanchard, president of Blanchard Seafood, Inc. George Barisich, a fisherman in the suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana, draws a distinction between lawful and undocumented immigration. He voted twice for former President Donald Trump, who 
championed restrictive immigration policies. Even so, Barisich agrees with Blanchard that immigrants play a vital role in his industry. “During shrimping season, we need legal immigrants to work in those factories,” he said. “It’s hard work, it’s decent pay, and it’s stuff young Americans just don’t want to do anymore.” >click to read< 11:05
Maryland Governor Calls for more HB-2 Visas – Governor Larry Hogan urged federal officials to make more H-2B Nonimmigrant Temporary Worker Program visas available to help protect Maryland’s $355 million seafood industry and supply chain. >click to read<
The host parish for Mid-Barataria diversion just voted 8-0 thumbs down against it – would destroy economy, culture
The Plaquemines Parish Council has decided to oppose Louisiana’s $2 billion plan to channel land-building sediment and nutrient-laden water from the Mississippi River,,, Members said the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project would destroy their parish’s seafood-based economy and culture. The 8-0 thumbs down from the governing authority in the project’s home parish marks an expected rebuke for Gov. John Bel Edwards, his coastal planners and their nonprofit advocates, who see Mid-Barataria as the flagship project in the state’s 50-year, $50 billion effort to stave off the disappearance of much of the bottom third of Louisiana into the Gulf of Mexico. >click to read< 11:13
Garret Graves calls CARES Act funding for Louisiana fisheries a ‘slap in the face’
U.S. Congressman Garret Graves released the following statement regarding the $12,477,165 allocated to Louisiana fisheries to mitigate the economic hardships accrued by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Louisiana Sixth District Congressman is “baffled” only 4.9 percent of the available funds was provided to Louisiana despite being one of the top fisheries states in the nation. Last year, under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), Louisiana received $14.7 million of the $300 million allocated. Rep. Graves’ statement >click to read< 21:00
Back on the Bayou: Local shrimp boat blessings return after a year lost to COVID
In a decades-old tradition, Catholic churches in fishing communities throughout south Louisiana lead the blessings in hopes of a safe and prosperous shrimp season. This year, the Rev. Antonio Speedy of Holy Family Catholic Church said the Blessing of the Fleet in Bayou Grand Caillou will look more like normal but will still have to keep the pandemic in mind. “It will be mostly family units on the boats, and it’s an outdoor event, so there will be plenty of wind blowing around, but we still have to stay prudent.” >click to read< 10:02
Barataria Bay project seen to create 27 square miles of land, displace brown shrimp and oysters
“The fishing industry doesn’t see the payoff here. It’s going to kill us more than it’s going to help anything,” said Cooper, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association. He said he feels as though the sparsely populated fishing communities of lower Plaquemines Parish, where the diversion is to be built, have been written off.,, Louisiana’s proposal for Mid-Barataria calls for spending part of a $303 million chunk of mitigation money to help fishers adapt to the disruption in their lives and their bank accounts. But industry representatives doubt that the government’s analyses sufficiently assess the economic cost of such a drastic change to an industry that not only supplies seafood,,, >click to read< 10:12
Massive, unexplained bivalve die-off sends many Louisiana oystermen back to square one
Mitch Jurisich, a third-generation oysterman, dropped a long pair of oyster tongs into the Gulf of Mexico and lightly raked the water bottom. When he brought up his catch, all but one were dead. The more resilient hooked mussels, typically found clustered along the area’s oyster reefs, had suffered the same fate. The stench of rotting bivalves filled the air. “That’s the smell of death,” Jurisich said. Early this month, millions of pounds of oysters in leases that line Plaquemines Parish’s west bank were found dead, their mouths agape. It’s unclear why. >click to read< 10:15
Gov. Edwards announces program to help Louisiana shrimpers
Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the creation of a $250,000 program that will pay part of the cost shrimp fishermen will have to pay for mandated devices to protect sea turtles and other animals from getting trapped in their nets. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will operate the Skimmer Turtle Excluder Device Reimbursement Program (STEDRP), which will reimburse up to 60 percent of the cost for two skimmer Turtle Excluder Devices, commonly called TEDs. >click to read< 12:02
Coast Guard conducts overflight of areas near Lake Charles affected by Hurricane Delta
The Coast Guard is conducting critical incident search and rescue overflights Saturday along the Western Gulf Coast Region for Hurricane Delta post-storm operations. A Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircrew conducted overflights near Lake Charles to assess damage and identify hazards. Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrews conducted overflights near Lake Charles and other impacted areas. As of 1 p.m. Saturday, there have been no reports of Coast Guard post-storm emergency distress calls, or search and rescue incidents.photos, >click to read< 16:03
Coast Guard rescues 2 fishermen from disabled 48-foot shrimp boat
The Coast Guard rescued two people from a commercial fishing vessel Sunday near Lake Borgne. Coast Guard Sector New Orleans watchstanders received a report of two people aboard the disabled 48-foot shrimp boat Sau Nguyen taking on water due to inclement weather. >video, click to watch< 09:50
A longtime shrimper says he plans to ride out Hurricane Sally
A longtime shrimper says he plans to ride out Hurricane Sally on his boat, just like he has with storms for the past 40 years. “I’m joined now by Ronald Fran who is a longtime shrimper, and you’ve ridden out hurricanes for the last forty years right here on this shrimp boat. WDSU Reporter Jennifer Crockett has his story. >click to watch the video< 08:32
Blue Horizon Seafood closed their doors and evacuated for Hurricane Laura. Half of their boats did not survive.
One Hackberry business is dedicated to serving its community with the freshest seafood, but after being hit by Hurricane Laura, they’re not sure when they’ll be able to reopen. Out of the 27 boats docked at Blue Horizon only 14 survived the storm. “The boats that went down they can’t be recovered, they’re all tore up just like this right here and 11 of our fleet is down I think there’s only about 14 left in the fleet. But everyone Is trying to pick up the pieces at the house and they’ll come to see what they can do with the boats.” video, click to read< 12:52
Coast Guard corrects aids to navigation after Hurricane Laura near Lake Charles and Port Arthur
The Coast Guard is continuing their response operations following the aftermath of Hurricane Laura near Lake Charles, Louisiana and Port Arthur, Texas. Multiple Coast Guard units are conducting channel assessments, identifying and correcting aids to navigation outages, and reviewing channel surveys to fully reconstitute all waterways. Approximately 2,108 aids to navigation assets were potentially impacted, damaged or moved off station due to Hurricane Laura. District Eight oversees over 23,000 aids. “Mariners should use extreme caution transiting through waterways in Lake Charles and Port Arthur due to aids to navigation outages and floating debris,” >click to read< 19:33
Hurricane Laura: Shrimpers rescue each other from sinking boats while riding it out
Phillip “Rooster” Dyson Jr., held onto an industrial icebox on the back deck of his 50-foot shrimping trawler and prayed for daylight. He thought of his four children and the rest of his family and realized he might not live to see them again. “It was that point when you know you messed up but it’s too late to turn back,” Dyson, 36, recalled. “It was a living nightmare.” But the shrimpers of Cameron did what they do each time a storm approaches: They motored their trawlers 30 miles inland, tied them to a pier at the Port of Lake Charles and hunkered down in their cabins to ride out the storm. Fifteen shrimping boats tied up to wait out Laura. Only five survived, the rest sinking to the bottom of Bayou Contraband,, >Video, photos, Click to read< 17:25
“It looks like 1,000 tornadoes went through”,,, Hurricane Laura blasts Louisiana coast with wind and wall of seawater
One of the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. pounded the Gulf Coast with wind and rain Thursday as Laura roared ashore in Louisiana near the Texas border, unleashing a fearsome wall of seawater and killing at least two people. Louisiana took the brunt of the damage when the Category 4 system barreled over Lake Charles, an industrial and casino city of 80,000 people. Laura’s powerful gusts blew out windows in tall buildings and tossed around glass and debris. Police spotted a floating casino that came unmoored and hit a bridge. >photos, click to read< 15:59
Coast Guard assists a 77-foot fishing vessel taking on water
The Coast Guard assisted a 77-foot fishing vessel taking on water near Freshwater Bayou, Louisiana, Wednesday. Sector/Air Station Houston-Galveston watchstanders received a report of a 77-foot fishing vessel with three fisHermen, aboard taking on water. Watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and launched a Coast Guard Air Station Houston MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew and a Station Sabine Response Boat-Medium boat crew to the scene. Once on scene, the Air Station Houston helicopter crew lowered a rescue swimmer and a dewatering pump to the vessel, F/V Capt. Cardin. The source of the flooding was secured and the vessel was dewatered. Video, >click to read< 17:12
Louisiana fisheries, coastal agencies working on initial oyster recovery strategy
Oysters are such a mainstay of Louisiana cuisine,, But over the past two decades, the state’s legendary bivalves have been getting battered. In hopes of reversing those trends, the agencies that oversee Louisiana’s fisheries and its coastal restoration efforts are developing a long-term strategy to revive the state’s once-legendary and recently beleaguered oyster fishery. The initial price tag is estimated at $132 million,, The plan was presented to the Department of Wildlife & Fisheries’ Louisiana Oyster Task Force for an initial review on July 7, and was endorsed by the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority eight days later. >click to read< 13:04
UPDATED: Coast Guard searches for man who jumped from commercial fishing vessel in Lake Barre, Louisiana
The Coast Guard is searching for a person in the water in Lake Barre, Louisiana, Thursday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a report at approximately 9 p.m. Wednesday evening of a 36-year-old male who had jumped off the commercial fishing vessel Miss Sue. -USCG- 11:45
Updated report: Coast Guard, Terrebonne Parish Sheriff searching for missing shrimper in Lake Barre – According to the sheriff, the shrimper went missing around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. When deputies arrived water patrol deputies made contact with the captain of the vessel, “Miss Sue,” who confirmed that the individual was gone from the boat, and a search had begun which lasted through the night and continued in to Thursday morning. >click to read< 13:20
Convicted killer granted new hearing
A Dulac man convicted by a split jury five years ago in the shooting death of a shrimp boat captain has been granted a new hearing. On a 10-2 verdict, Richard Verdin Jr., 36, was convicted on Oct. 15, 2015 of second-degree murder of 49-year-old shrimp boat captain Hun Vo. According to authorities, Verdin was arguing with other men over a drug transaction, but the victim was not involved in the dispute. The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call on June 24, 2012, regarding a man who was shot to death on a docked shrimp boat at Jensen’s Seafood in Dulac. The victim, identified as Vo, died from a single gunshot wound to the chest, the Sheriff’s Office said. >click to read< 12:15
Coast Guard searching for a fisherman in the water offshore Marsh Island, Louisiana
The Coast Guard is searching for a person in the water offshore Marsh Island, Louisiana, Monday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a report at about 3 a.m. that a 52-year-old male was missing from the crew of commercial fishing vessel Guiding Light 3, approximately 18 nautical miles south of Marsh Island, Louisiana. He is presumed to have fallen overboard. Involved in the search: Coast Guard Cutter Skipjack, Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-65 Dolphin Helicopter aircrew, Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircrew -USCG- U.S. Coast Guard 8th District Heartland Contact: 8th District Public Affairs, Office: (504) 671-2020 ,After Hours: (618) 225-9008
Coronavirus: Louisiana’s $2 billion seafood industry hard, leaders urge public to buy local
Louisiana’s $2 billion seafood industry is struggling. “These are all very small family-owned businesses, and they are very dependent on local sales,” Twin Parish Port Commissioner Wendell Verret said. Larger seafood businesses will also be hurt. As demand for seafood goes down, they’ll be stuck with too much inventory. When businesses stop buying seafood from fishermen, the effects could be disastrous. “Once the fishermen are impacted and they cannot continue to fish, they lose their boats. They lose their equipment. Video, >click to read< 07:09
