Photo: John Nowak/CNN
by Matt Smith/CNN
Yscloskey, Louisiana – On his dock along the banks of Bayou Yscloskey, Darren Stander makes the pelicans dance.
More than a dozen of the birds have landed or hopped onto the dock, where Stander takes in crabs and oysters from the fishermen who work the bayou and Lake Borgne at its mouth. The pelicans rock back and forth, beaks rising and falling, as he waves a bait fish over their heads.
George Barisich, left, and his deckhand Bob Caretto separate oysters dredged from Bayou Yscloskey, Louisiana. John Nowak/CNN
During the spill, scientists warned that fish eggs and larvae, shrimp, coral and oysters were potentially most at risk from the use of dispersants. The Environmental Protection Agency later reported that testing found the combination of oil and dispersants to be no more toxic than the oil alone.
State data show that blue crab landings are off an average of 18%, and brown shrimp — the season for which the industry is now gearing up — is down 39% compared with the 2002-09 catch.
“Since the spill, my shrimp production is off between 40 and 60% for the two years that I did work full time,” said George Barisich, who has both a shrimp boat and an oyster boat tied up at Yscloskey. “But my price is off another 50%, and my fuel is high: 60 cents a gallon higher than it’s ever been.”
In Yscloskey, Barisich said three bayou fishermen took settlements from BP, sold their leases and walked away from the docks. As for him, at 56, he’s trying to adapt.
The post CNN: Empty Nets in Louisiana Three Years after the Spill appeared first on Louisiana Seafood News.