Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita left southern Louisiana devastated and
its residents with many questions. I'll address some of
those commercial and recreational fishing industry questions
in this column.
•
How have Louisiana’s fishermen been affected by Hurricane
Katrina and Rita?
Recreational
anglers spent $895 million in Louisiana in 2003, which produced
a total economic impact of $1.632 billion. Commercial fishing
generated nearly $2 billion in sales for a total economic
effect of more than $2.6 billion. Unfortunately, the capacity
to support much of this activity in southern Louisiana has
been disrupted by the hurricanes.
Docks
and marinas, lodging, fuel and ice facilities, fish processors,
bait suppliers and most other services have been affected.
Direct loss of larger, non-trailerable boats was nearly
100 percent in some areas, such as Venice. Most residents
of fishing communities in lower St. Bernard and Plaquemines
parishes lost homes. Loss of fishing camps is also considerable,
with all camps in some areas completely destroyed and nearly
all throughout the region damaged.
Direct
loss of fish and shrimp after a hurricane is common in waters
with highly organic substrate, or muck. Dissolved oxygen
is quickly exhausted, and many fish die. Inland fish kills
will be widespread in the swamps, bayous and lakes raked
by Katrina and Rita.
Reports
are trickling in on which waters experienced fish kills,
and it will be some time before the full extent of this
impact is known. Preliminary reports indicate that many
of the areas around Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas will
be on the final list. Sportsmen can keep up with fisheries
news and regulations at: http://www.wlf.state.la.us/apps/netgear/index.asp?cn=lawlf&pid=13
Effects
on shrimp will be somewhat different than on fish for a
couple of reasons. But complete redistribution of local
populations undoubtedly occurred during Katrina and Rita,
and people’s ability to conduct a fishery on shrimp
or anything else has been compromised.
Katrina
caused at least seven major oil spills and dozens of smaller
spills. At least 46 platforms were destroyed during the
storm and at least 16 others were severely damaged. Pollution
from residential and industrial drainage after the storm
also can be expected to have negative fisheries effects.
Habitat damage and localized loss of fish populations are
of primary concerns.
Contamination
of fish and shrimp that are consumed is less likely, but
anglers and consumers can check advisories at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fsdisas2.html
or http://www.cfsan.fda.gov.
Post-Katrina and Rita water quality information is available
at http://www.deq.state.la.us/.
The
recovery of fisheries will be dependent on several factors,
including the extent of the kill, percentage of fish killed
in a specific area and level of connectivity with unaffected
waters. In a best-case scenario, a fish kill of a few acres
in an area with lots of connections to unaffected water
should be mostly back to normal in a year or so. In a worst-case
scenario, a system that experiences extensive kills in all
connected waters will take several years before fish repopulation
comes up to expected levels.
Permanent
damage to “nursery” habitats was also caused
by Katrina and Rita. Again, surveys have been preliminary,
but are consistently alarming.
Satellite
photography south of New Orleans indicates that the marshes
below Caernarvon were severely cut up. Fishermen will find
that area largely unrecognizable. Destruction of marsh edge
habitats results in impacts to fisheries production that
isn’t immediately noticed, but it will gradually reduce
the populations of fish and shrimp. Satellite photos are
showing that more than 13,000 square acres of coastal wetlands
and a number of offshore barrier islands in the Gulf of
Mexico have entirely disappeared.
Researchers
are headed out to test fish and shrimp for evidence of toxic
contamination and pathogens that might affect human health,
examine water quality, pollutants, wetland impacts, navigation
hazards and the marine food chain. Expect to hear reports
about this work before long.
In
all this bad news there may be a bit of good news. Offshore
bottom fishing is usually excellent after a big storm.
Sportsmen
can keep up with the news about fisheries impact assessments
and regulations at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife
and Fisheries (LDFW) Web site: http://www.wlf.state.la.us/apps/netgear/
index.asp?cn=lawlf&pid=13
Anyone
who lost a boat in the storm should fax LDWF (225/763-5421)
a copy of their driver's license and a request to flag their
boat LA# ______ as missing due to Katrina or Rita. Information
about lost boats also can be found at:
http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/apps/netgear/index.asp?cn=lawlf&pid=1380
More
information about LDWF activities after Katrina is available
at:
http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/apps/netgear/index.asp?cn=
lawlf&pid=13&id=1125592591
For
more information about the value of fisheries, hunting and
boating in Louisiana, visit: http://www.wlf.state.la.us/apps/netgear/clientFiles/
lawlf/files/LEI%202003_4xfinal.pdf
•
Where can fisheries businesses turn for help?
Operators
of these businesses should remember that, in addition to
insurance claims and FEMA assistance, the Small Business
Administration is making loans for recovery: Visit www.sba.gov/disaster
for more information. More disaster relief information relevant
to fishing businesses is available from the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at http://www.commerce.gov/Katrina/.
Additionally,
commercial operators should be aware that the secretary
of commerce has declared the northern and eastern Gulf a
fishery failure so that federal relief funds will be available
to assess the impacts, restore the fisheries, prevent future
failure and assist fishing communities' recovery efforts.
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