Fishermen, boat retailers reeling

Summer is usually a busy time for Bobby Terrebonne, owner of Gotcha Fishing Charters.

Warm temperatures heat Gulf of Mexico waters, which tempt offshore fish to bite. And when they’re biting, customers come in droves to Terrebonne’s business looking for fun in the sun and a day of fishing with coworkers and peers.

This summer is no different in terms of climate, and temperatures are, as always, heating up.

But instead of being on the water, Terrebonne and his business have come to a screeching halt, thanks to the oil in the Gulf of Mexico and the restrictions of virtually all of South Louisiana’s offshore fishing.

“It’s shut us completely down,” he said. “Oh Lord, it’s been very bad. We’ve come to a complete stop.”

With no work, that obviously means no money for Terrebonne and Gotcha Charters. He said losing the month of May has cost his business $11,000.

He also added that if he were not able to fish in June, he’d lose $23,000 in business and even more if fishing were not available in July.

“It’s a tremendous impact,” he said. “It’s not like a hurricane. With that, you know what you have to do. You build back up your house, and then you move on. With this, there’s no time limit. We have no idea how long it’s going to be and there’s nothing we can do about it. We’re basically just sitting down and twiddling our thumbs.”

While Terrebonne is waiting out the spill, other charter fishermen have been asked to donate their vessels and their time to BP.

One of those fishermen is Damon McKnight with Strike Zone Charters.

McKnight said the company hired him and others in the area to do “odds and ends,” to aid in the spill efforts.

“We’re doing stuff like running Coast Guard people around or maybe running some boom here and there,” McKnight said. “It’s pretty much just small stuff like that.”

But even while being employed during the spill, the fisherman said the money he’s making is “not comparable” to what he’d be making if he were chartering.

“It’s a very significant blow,” he said. “That’s 100 percent the way to explain it.”

With no fishermen on the waters, there is an obvious ripple down effect – firstly hitting our area’s marinas.

Some marinas in Port Fourchon have just closed until the season gets started again because it’s not worth staying open if no one is fishing.

One of those marinas is the Port Fourchon Marina, who locked the doors on the marina a few weeks after oil reached the Louisiana coast.

“We’ve totally closed the marina,” said Dorine Guidry, who works for the marina. “We have no fishermen at all, because they just can’t fish in this area anymore at all.”

But the downturn for some marinas has also been an upward swing in another area of their business, because Guidry said Port Fourchon Marina is staying afloat by housing cleanup workers.

“Our rooms are full,” she said. “Before it would have been fishermen, but now it’s full with the people here to help. Thank God for that.”

The next ripple-down onto the business chain would be boat dealerships. With less people on the water, less boat motors are being repaired and less first-timers are making purchases.

“Not many people are going to buy a boat, because there’s no place to fish,” said Marvin Catrett, owner of Evolution Marine in Houma.

Like the marinas, Catrett said his business has also “slowed up a bit,” since the oil spill.

“There’s no question things have slowed down,” Catrett said. “We’re losing all of the commercial guys, because they’re not fishing, and we’re losing the oyster [fishermen] and the shrimpers, because they’re not catching. It’s impacted that market big time.”

Catrett said his business has “stayed pretty busy” because the in-shore fishing market has stayed relatively unscathed.

But he also added it would be nice if things got back to normal.

“It hasn’t been anything major for our business yet,” Catrett said. “But if it lasts long enough, it would probably hurt us more, too.”

With restrictions on fishing in place and money being taken out of the pockets of people involved in commercial fishing, one would think people would try to sneak back offshore under the radar and test their luck with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

But according to Lt. Colonel Jeff Mayne, it’s been the exact opposite.

When an area is closed, Mayne said fishermen still in the area for the next 24 hours are just given warnings, but after that citations are handed out. On repeat offenses, fishing gear could even be confiscated.

But so far, Mayne said people are following the law and staying out of restricted waters.

“Generally speaking, we’re seeing a large absence of people who are fishing recreationally or commercially in the restricted areas,” Mayne said. “The compliance is pretty high. We have issued some citations and many warnings, but the compliance is high.”

Mayne said he believes that is the case because of the pride people have for their businesses.

“The love for the seafood industry here is keeping them away, especially on the commercial side,” he said. “It’s just as dangerous to the industry for a tainted product to get on the market, than it would be to get caught in a closed area. The fishermen don’t want a tainted product to hurt our good, Louisiana seafood image. I honestly believe that is keeping them away.”

The primary concern from everyone – fishermen, marina owners and Catrett – is the helpless waiting.

No one knows when the oil will stop spewing from the Gulf, and even when it does, no one knows when, or even if, things will ever be back to normal.

“I’ll tell you, this is another Katrina,” Catrett said. “Just no one really knows about it, because it’s so far out there that you can’t see it like we saw her.”

Waiting. Patiently waiting. That’s all anyone can do, while the oil still pumps and an end still is nowhere in sight.

“I am doing literally nothing,” Terrebonne said. “I’m working around on my boat, just fiddling around with it, getting it totally ready for next year, because I definitely don’t think we’re going to be fishing this year … It’s sad. It really is.”

Fisherman Taeger Gisclair pulls a tarpon onto the deck of the Different Drummer, a charter boat located in Port Fourchon, La. Charter fishing has taken a significant hit since the oil spill because of closures in local waters. * COURTESY PHOTO