Crime Blotter: Reported offenses in the Tri-parishes
December 26, 2012Insurance dept. offers online rate comparisons
December 26, 2012
In Chauvin, at the southernmost end of Bayouside Drive, Eric Blanchard squints at the fast-moving waters of Bayou Little Caillou, then at the highway pavement on a windy morning last week.
No boats from Lake Pelto. No pickups from Pointe-aux-Chenes. And that means no crabs, even as orders from clients pile up.
Blanchard’s basset hound eyes look sadder than normal as he does some quick math at the desk of his cluttered office.
“I’ve got orders for 70 pounds of crabs and I have about 14,” Blanchard said, shaking his head.
On this particular winter morning, the culprit is weather. A passing cold front dragged winds behind it that reached gale force in Terrebonne Bay. Some crabbers will go out with things that rough, but a lot wisely don’t.
The weather issue, Blanchard and others at his Cajun Crab plant say it is one more injury heaped atop many others, a complex web of events that amount to a whole lot fewer crabs ending up at docks like Blanchard’s.
“We are at about one third of where we should be,” he said.
Complete statistics for Louisiana blue crab landings are only available back to 2011.
Statewide last year, the total was 19,810.9 metric tons caught. That was a jump from 13,877.5 in 2010. That number is understandably low because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which resulted in closed coastal fisheries. It was a hard fall from 2009, when the tonnage was nearly 24,000.
“To me, it’s called common sense,” Blanchard said. “Before the oil spill, you are this number. After that, you are in this other number. What happened in between? Oh. Yeah. An oil spill and millions upon millions of gallons of oil, and dispersants that made the oil more toxic.”
No objective scientific proof exists to verify Blanchard’s circumstantial theory. But there is no proof to contradict it either.
BP executives have consistently stated that the company is doing all it can in communities affected by the spill. Studies to determine the extent of damage to fisheries are ongoing but have not resulted in conclusive data.
Dock owners like Blanchard and fishermen throughout the Terrebonne Basin know they are seeing fewer crabs, and that’s about all they know.
“Nobody really knows why,” said Julie Falgout, SeaGrant extension assistant, who monitors fisheries throughout the state and lives in Terrebonne Parish.
They are not sure if it is attributed to BP or fishermen losing their traps to the hurricane last summer. Nobody’s got a definitive answer.
Incontrovertible, however, are the recent closures of crab-buying businesses in Lafourche Parish. Complaints from other small businesses, including suggestions that crabs are not living as long when they go to market, have proliferated since last year. While fishermen and dock owners have made clear their belief that the oil spill is to blame for dwindling numbers of crabs in some areas, scientists are suggesting other factors including climate change.
There has been good news for the industry.
The London-based Council for Sustainable Fisheries has certified the Louisiana crab fishery under its program.
That amounts to a red carpet for the critters into the doors of restaurants in big cities around the world.
The certificate of sustainability means that the fishery is well-managed, and that it follows what are considered best practices.
Blanchard says that’s all fine and well, but that without crabs to sell it doesn’t make much difference in his world.
“Meanwhile businesses like myself are operating, but scaled back to bare bones just to survive,” he said. “The crabs will return, I believe they will, but it’s going to take a while.”
Richard Rivera, a worker at Cajun Crab in Chauvin, examines scant suppy of crabs last week. Those in the industry are concerned about the small numbers of crabs that are being hauled in Gulf waters this season.
