A one-two punch of wind and water damage from 2012′s Hurricane Isaac and resulting re-floating of oil related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster has prompted Gov. Bobby Jindal to formally request a fisheries failure from federal officials. Photo: Ed Lallo/Louisiana Seafood News
by Louisiana Seafood News Staff
A one-two punch of wind and water damage from 2012′s Hurricane Isaac and resulting re-floating of oil related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster has prompted Gov. Bobby Jindal to formally request a fisheries failure from federal officials.
“This will allow our fishermen, fishing communities and biologic resources to be restored,” state’s Jindal’s letter to Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank.
A failure occurs when an act of nature or man results in a fisheries resource disaster, causing those engaged in the fishery to suffer “severe economic hardship.” according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Aid packages ranging from Small Business Administration loans to outright grants can then be made available from the federal government.
Louisiana Assistant Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Randy Pausina said Jindal’s request is an all-important first step in the process.
“The governor is the only one in the state who can make the request,” Pausina said. “Then we can start collecting the data and get Congress to appropriate money.”
Pausina said new rules are in place that make predicting what specific forms of aid – or dollar amounts – could be made available, and that it’s too soon to predict what forms it might take.
“That’s at the pleasure of Congress,” Pausina said. “I am not sure right now how we would demonstrate a loss. And there are questions about whether the aid might come back with strings attached to it.”
Such strings could include matching grants or similar packages.
Isaac moved slowly along the Gulf Coast after strafing the Caribbean and causing 29 deaths. It made two landfalls, one near the mouth of the Mississippi River Aug. 28. It then made landfall at Port Fourchon, causing severe storm surges.and killing five people in Louisiana, as well as two in Mississippi and two in Florida.
Heavy waves, according to some reports, lifted crude from the bottom of the Gulf where it was presumed to have been since the Deepwater Horizon spill. In addition to infrastructure damaged by the storm, some fishing had to be curtailed as clean-up crews worked with the oil.
In stressing the importance of Louisiana’s fisheries to the nation’s economy, Jindal noted in his request that the state produced 1.5 billion pounds in 2011 with a dollar value of $340 million, second only to Alaska.
“By immediately making funds available, our fishermen can return to commerce and supply our nation with U.S.-caught shrimp, crab, oysters and finfish,” Jindal’s letter states.
Fisheries failures have been declared 51 times since 1994, most recently in New York and New Jersey due to Hurricane Sandy.
The last such declaration for Louisiana occurred in 2010 due to the Deepwater Horizon spill.
Montegut shrimper Lance Nacio, who sits on Louisiana’s Shrimp Task Force, was among fishermen who said they welcome the governor’s attempt to get a fisheries failure declaration.
“If we can get some kind of aid or subsidy it will help,” said Nacio. “It’s been hard for so many reasons but we have never stopped fishing. In Louisiana we have this tremendous resource and we believe in it. We want to keep trying to utilize it as much as we can.”
The post Gov. Jindal Requests Fisheries Failure From Department of Commerce appeared first on Louisiana Seafood News.