Tag Archives: Louisiana
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
‘It’s grim.’ After spring floods, Louisiana oyster harvest slows to a trickle
Fall is when Louisiana normally begins harvesting a torrent of oysters. This year, the torrent is barely a trickle. Restaurants have resorted to rationing. They’re reaching far beyond their normal local supply chains to get whatever boxes and sacks of oysters they can find, revising menus and tapping stockpiles of frozen product to keep fried oysters on their po-boys and seafood platters. Many in the business are calling the shortage the worst they’ve ever seen, worse than the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 or the BP oil spill disaster in 2010, both of which devastated the local industry. Photo’s >click to read< 08:29
Fisheries disaster declared in multiple fisheries, multiple states
Wednesday,, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced his determination that commercial fishery failures occurred for multiple fisheries between 2017 and 2019 in Alaska, California, Georgia, and South Carolina, while further finding that a catastrophic regional fishery disaster occurred for Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama due to extreme flooding events in the Gulf of Mexico. >click to read< 17:41
Gulf Coast seafood industry slammed by freshwater from floods, states requesting federal fishery disaster funding
The governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama asked months ago for U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to declare a fisheries disaster, a designation needed to secure federal grants for those whose livelihoods were affected in the Gulf region’s vital seafood industry. Alabama canceled its oyster season. It will be months before all the figures are in and the analysis completed to tell which Louisiana fisheries qualify, said Patrick Banks, assistant secretary for fisheries in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. >click to read< 12:47
Floodwaters Diverted from New Orleans Killed Off Marine Life
The federal government’s effort to avoid a flood disaster in New Orleans had catastrophic consequences of its own, causing massive fish kills and habitat destruction along the Gulf Coast, according to the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The governors say the Army Corps of Engineers’ diversion of trillions of gallons of water from the swollen Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico killed fish, shrimp, oysters and crab and forced the extended closure of beaches. Dolphins have suffered high death and infection rates, researchers say. >click to read< 15:44
Louisiana fishermen sell directly to survive, hoping for boost from restaurant menu labeling law
Commercial fishing businesses in Louisiana, striving to survive years of low prices for their catch and a safety scare following the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, are hoping for a boost in demand when restaurants across the state are required to disclose imported shrimp and crawfish on their menus starting Sept. 1. But already there is doubt that it will have much of an impact. >click to read< 12:15
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries describes floodwater impacts on LA seafood as ‘extreme’. Fishermen are concerned.
Scientists pointed out significant numbers of fin fish, shrimp, crab and oysters lost so far this year, with the sharpest declines seen at oyster beds. Marine fisheries biologist Nicole Smith said oyster men have reported 60% to 100% mortality rates among coastal oysters.,,, Kimberly Chauvin attended the meeting to represent the David Chauvin Seafood Co. in Dulac. She said her central location dodged the worst of the floodwater intrusion, but she is concerned about the flood of toxins the floods carry with it. Video, >click to read< 15:34
Video – New tax proposed on imported seafood in Louisiana
A proposal is making a splash in Louisiana shrimp boats. Delcambre shrimper Terral Melancon tells me he’s losing money to imported shrimp. “I catch that shrimp, I can’t even get 80 cents (a pound),” said Melancon. “They flood the market so cheap our shrimp is worth nothing because this country is so flooded with the imported shrimp” Now Lousiana’s Lieutenant Governor wants to tax imported seafood at 10 cents per pound, but foreign seafood isn’t just cutting into fishermen’s profits. Video, >click to read< 16:14
Commercial fishermen along Gulf Coast take another hit after Hurricane Barry
Gulf Coast commercial fishermen have taken another hit this season after Hurricane Barry struck Louisiana and Mississippi shores. Indeed, strong winds and rain from the Category 1 storm forced vessels to remain docked for days. That was the case for Floyd Lesseigne of Grand Isle, La. The commercial fishermen, who has two boats that he takes out to harvest crabs, shrimp and oysters, said he and many others were forced out of the water early last week. Video, >click to read< 19:27
Barry strengthens into category 1 hurricane; Gulf Coast braces for impact
As power outages continued to mount across Louisiana Saturday morning, Barry continued to intensifying and strengthened into a category 1 hurricane as it churned toward the Gulf Coast, threatening millions with flooding and damaging winds. Barry is the first hurricane of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season, and only the fourth hurricane to ever to make landfall on the Louisiana coast in the month of July. >click to read<14:07
Gov. Edwards Requests Federal Declaration of a Fisheries Disaster in Louisiana
Gov. John Bel Edwards announced today that he has requested a federal fisheries disaster declaration for Louisiana from the U.S. Department of Commerce following impacts of the spring flood flight on the fishing industry in Louisiana. Troubling mortality rates among oysters, declining fish catches and the financial damage to the livelihoods of those in the fishing industry caused by floodwaters rushing from the Bonnet Carré Spillway were among the reasons for the request, which Gov. Edwards outlined in a letter to Wilbur Ross, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce. >click to read<16:18
Louisiana Bill Would Require Shrimp and Crawfish Country Of Origin Labeling on Restaurant Menus
Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements at 7 CFR Part 60 and 7 CFR Part 65require retailers to notify their customers of the country of origin of covered commodities,,, House Bill No. 335 would require Louisiana restaurants to label menus with the origins of shrimp and crawfish. The proposed law would require all restaurants that use a menu as a standard business practice and sell cooked or prepared crawfish or shrimp that originate outside of the U.S. to display on all menus the country of origin in letters no smaller than one-half inch in size, in English, immediately adjacent to the menu listing of the seafood item being sold. >click to read<10:13
House Bill 335 – Louisiana seafood labeling bill clears hurdle
Louisiana seafood processors are claiming victory after an early win for a measure they’ve sought for years. They say in many Louisiana restaurants, you’re eating at your own risk, and they hope state lawmakers are going to pass laws to change that. When it comes to the production of shrimp and crawfish, few states measure up. “If you’re looking at shirmp and crawfish, it’s a $500 million industry,” said Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain.,,, “For every 10 shrimp you eat, no matter where you live, including Louisiana, nine and a half of those are imported from somewhere else,” said David Veal with the American Shrimp Association. >Video, click to read<11:21
Shrimp – Record Lows in Louisiana and Florida-and a Near Record High in Texas-Close Out 2018
The Fishery Monitoring Branch of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries’ Southeast Fisheries Science Center released shrimp landings data from the Gulf of Mexico for December 2018 and January 2019. For December, NOAA reported that 6.5 million pounds of shrimp were landed in the Gulf of Mexico, down from 6.9 million pounds last year, and 24.4 percent below the prior eighteen-year historical average of 8.6 million pounds. The decline in landings for the month was due to low shrimp landings in Louisiana and on the west coast of Florida. >click to read<21:04
Louisiana: State begins coast-wide effort to sustain fisheries hit by wetland erosion, restoration projects
State officials have embarked on a coast-wide effort to partner with the commercial and recreational fishing industry to find ways to make fishing more sustainable in the future, even as some state projects aimed at restoring coastal wetlands and land threaten fisheries and fishers. Representatives of Louisiana Sea Grant, the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority told members of the authority’s board on Wednesday (Dec. 12) that a joint fishing industry adaptation program begun earlier this year is aimed at listening to fishers and incorporating their ideas in any future adaptation plans. >click to read<12:22
Low shrimp prices are hurting local fisherman who blame imports
Local shrimpers are seeing some of the lowest shrimp prices in history, and most blame imported shrimp. Jimmie Dupré has been shrimping for 61 years. He says he plans to retire soon because the industry is taking a turn for the worst. He says, “We can’t get good prices and they drop every time they have an open season, they drop the prices. They claim it’s on the imports. Now, who imports the shrimp? The processors import the shrimp. And they keep saying well it imports if it’s the import shrimp stop importing the damn thing.” There’s been talk of shrimpers going on strike if prices don’t increase but Dupré says that won’t fix the problem. >click to read<09:35
Lawmakers urge more FDA inspections of imported seafood, win approval
An effort to increase the amount of imported seafood the U.S. inspects for health issues has crossed a hurdle in the Senate. Louisiana’s two Republican senators, John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy, won approval of a measure that would add $3.1 million the FDA’s budget for such testing. Shrimpers in Terrebonne and Lafourche, joined by their peers in other states, have pushed for the measure,, The group represents shrimp fishermen and processors in Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas. Video >click to read<17:48
Help sought from a higher authority to help shrimping crisis
Local shrimp fishermen and dealers say the industry’s prices are locally hitting some of the lowest points in nearly a decade, and warning of a market collapse if some kind of help is not forthcoming. What kind of help will do the most good has not been settled, but the industry’ voices will speak 4 p.m. Friday at the Lennox Hotard American Post at 602 Legion Drive in Houma. Among confirmed attendees is U.S. Sen. John Kennedy R-La. “I hope he can sit with us before the meeting so that we can explain what is going on with us,” said Louisiana Shrimp Association President Acey Cooper. Angela Portier of Chauvin,,, “We want to know if there Is anything he can do to help, is there anything he can do to help raise our shrimp prices,” she said. “We need a direct line to President Trump >click to read<09:39
Shrimpers pressured by import prices, seek legislative change
Charles Robin the third comes from a long line of commercial shrimpers. Robin said the shrimping community is struggling to stay afloat. “The way it is right now you gotta catch a boatload of shrimp every trip. If you don’t, you don’t even pay the bills. That’s all we’re doing is staying above water,” Robin said. Local fisherman say import prices are forcing them to lower prices.,, On top of competing with import prices, shrimpers are also forking out money to upkeep their boats. >click to read<09:56
