Bayou Gulf Oil Spill Alert

Bayou on Oil Spill Alert

As the latest containment effort fails, New Orleans seafood producers anxiously track Gulf oil slick.

| Monday, 10 May 2010 | 08:06

Seafood at Today's Ketch in New Orleans

As oil continues to flow from the leaking well off the coast of Louisiana, the fear and anxiety of New Orleans' fishermen ebbs and flows as well. Though most seafood restaurants and markets have yet to see a decrease in production, employees of the Gulf Coast's vital fishing industry are worried about their jobs and their livelihood. Still, they are keeping faith that something, anything, will be done to stop the oil from reaching prime fishing areas.

Sal Sunseri of P&J Oyster Company, New Orleans' oldest and most respected oyster house, said he has not yet seen production slip, and his company's oyster beds remain untainted, because his oysters come from the west side of the river.

"First and foremost, our concern is to make sure the oil is not getting into the marshlands and the oyster-growing areas," Sunseri said. "We have seen no change in oysters so far. There is a shortage of oysters right now, but that's due to weather, currents, etc. The main thing is to cap (the oil leak), contain it and get it out of here. Keep it away from our seafood."

The April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and resulting spill has left a 50-mile-wide oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, forcing fishermen to sit idle. The spill occurred just a week before the official start of shrimping season, and the floating oil has forced the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association to put a moratorium on fishing and shrimping of any and all species.

Last weekend's failed attempt to install a giant box over the oil rig that would have pumped out the oil to a tanker has left everyone involved uneasy over what comes next.

The fishing restrictions come in the form of state and federal closures of a wide swath of popular fishing and shrimping areas, all east of the Mississippi River. State and federal waters to the west of the river remain open to fishermen and oystermen.

Oil has already started washing up on Louisiana's Chandeleur Islands, which are uninhabited but part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge has since been closed to the public.

Today's Ketch restaurant and market of St. Bernard Parish, home to many fishermen and a large section of Louisiana's seafood industry, reported it has yet to see a decline in product. Instead, the supplier has been busier than ever as people buy seafood in bulk, afraid that soon it will become more expensive or tainted by oil.

"We get our crabs from Lake Ponchartrain and our crawfish from the Bell River -- neither of those areas have been affected," said employee June Lemoine. "As for our shrimp, we buy it in bulk when it's in season, so it can last us through the next season. But if shrimping doesn’t get started soon, we might run out."

Lemoine said she's been hearing from many of their suppliers and other local fishermen that they are out of work and worried about the low prospects of returning to the seas anytime soon.

"Shrimping is a very big industry in the parish. They are just getting their boats back and in use from Katrina, and now this happens. It’s affecting them in a big way, and it is affecting the national supply, since they ship everywhere."

She suspected that more than 5,000 people in St. Bernard Parish work in the seafood industry. The Louisiana Department of Social Services estimates that 47,000 households in the 14 coastal parishes will need food assistance due to unemployment caused by the oil spill.

There is no telling where the oil will go and whether it will affect the rest of Louisiana’s untainted fishing grounds, but Sunseri doesn’t want to think about it. He won't consider what his next move might be if the oil contaminates his oyster beds.

"I'm an optimist," Sunseri said. "I feel confident that God and Mother Nature are going to take over the situation."