Fishermen and oystermen estimated to lose nearly $300 million from hurricanes Gustav and Ike

Last week, several seafood industry representatives went to Washington, D.C. to solicit support from Congress to reestablish the state’s $2.6 billion seafood market Louisiana.

Representatives from the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board met with members of the Louisiana congressional delegation searching for relief after back-to-back storms, said Mike Voisin of Motivatit Seafood, who is a member of the board.

According to the state Department of Wildlife and Fishery and the LSU AgCenter, hurricanes Gustav and Ike heavily affected fisheries throughout south Louisiana, killing fish and creating habitat loss across the Louisiana coastline. The estimated cost of economic loss is $350 million.

According to Voisin, most of the state’s $50 million freshwater commercial fishing industry is located in south Louisiana.

Hurricane Gustav made landfall in the vicinity of Cocodrie in Terrebonne Parish. Hurricane Ike made landfall in the vicinity of Galveston,Texas, but the tremendous size of the hurricane impacted the entire coast of Louisiana.

It is estimated that Hurricane Gustav will have an economic loss of $76,004,000 to the Louisiana fisheries infrastructure. Preliminary average estimates a revenue loss of $58,591,602.

At this time, field reports are not available for Ike’s true impact; however, using Hurricane Rita’s figures, it is estimated that Ike will greatly impact fisheries revenue and infrastructure at an economic loss to Louisiana of $209,625,216.

To help the industry, the board asked that the delegation support Gov. Bobby Jindal’s relief package that includes a request for funds to offset the loss of seafood, increase production costs and to repair and replace storage and fishing facilities in Grand Isle.

The preliminary figures have prompted the board to request $150 million.

“This is basically to give people a hand up and not a hand out so that they can get back to work,” he said.

The board is also looking at having continuous improvement to preparation prior to storms. For instance, having high-powered portal generators available to run mobile ice and machines.

“We are improving every time we have a storm. We were better prepared for hurricanes Gustav and Ike than for the 2005 storms,” he said.

A long-term fix, according to Voisin, would be to ensure that the area has crop insurance. The board is working with the USDA Risk Management Team for oyster insurance. He believes that this will lend itself to having shrimp and other fishery items insured.