Registered fishermen still waiting by the phone for BP

It’s the middle of June and Thomas Barrios’ boat is sitting on a trailer in Golden Meadow.

The long-time crabber has flourished his personal business from selling crabs on the side of the road in the late ’90s to opening up a seafood restaurant and market in 2008.

With the help of his wife Alicia, the South Lafourche native’s hard work and never-say-quit attitude has developed a profitable business into Barrios Seafood to Go and Restaurant in Golden Meadow – until the oil spill set their future in doubt.

“Being able to see my crabs being served to people and watching people eat and enjoying it was probably the most satisfaction I’ve ever got in the success of my work history. It was taking off like a rocket until the oil spill,” said Thomas. “After that, we’ve been downhill ever since. It’s like somebody cut our wings off, and we’re so wounded right now. We have no idea how much longer we’re going to survive.”

Unable to catch crabs with Lafourche Parish waters closed to fishing, Thomas applied for the Vessels of Opportunity program about a month ago, and like many South Lafourche residents, he has yet to receive a call.

“No idea where I am on the list – even if I’m on the list,” said Thomas. “We’re still in the dark. The organization of this venture is what’s really got people frustrated, because you don’t know if you’re getting hired on – the uncertainty.”

In the meantime, Thomas took a job with Grand Isle Shipyard and filed a claim with BP in order to attempt to keep his business going.

“I am a Cajun, and I’m stubborn. So when I say I’m not giving up, I mean I’m not giving up,” said Thomas. “I will fight as hard as I can and do whatever it takes to keep my business open.”

But Thomas isn’t the only Lafourche Parish resident up in arms about not receiving a call from BP to go to work through their Vessels of Opportunity program

More than 50 fishermen stood up at last week’s Lafourche Parish Council meeting.

It was following a general announcement asking any fishermen in the audience who had been put out of work by the oil still to stand and be seen.

But many were also heard in the public wishing to address the council portion of the meeting.

Some spoke, others listened, while some just held their cell phones in the hope of receiving a call from BP telling them they could begin working for the Vessels of Opportunity Program.

A total of 269 Lafourche Parish residents have signed contracts through BP’s Vessels of Opportunity Program, however only 114 have gone to work as of yet – a fact that angers many local fishermen.

Making matters worse, lifelong fishermen argue that many of the 114 boats that have gone to work and can make as much as $3,000 a day are owned by wealthy residents – people whose primary source of income does not come from their catch.

Led by council chairman Daniel Lorraine – Lafourche Parish fishermen would like to see more single-income fishermen hired by BP.

“There were too many boats that were hired that shouldn’t have been hired…There are people in here that have never fished in their life that are making money and trying to make money off of the fishermen. That’s sad,” said Lorraine. “We need to purge the list and put the right people to work – not the people that have a silver spoon already.”

Both Lorraine and councilman Rodney Doucet suggested to BP representatives who addressed the council last meeting that BP begin including W2 forms and fishing licenses in the necessary information needed to sign up for the Vessels of Opportunity Program.

“If their income had nothing to do with that vessel, then you know right then and there that vessel was one of the vessels that slipped through the cracks,” said Doucet. “The people doing this that have two or three other jobs, they’re going to squawk because that’s major money they just lost, but they’re not going to squawk as loud as these people.”

BP spokesperson Hugh Depland said BP officials would have discussions and consider suggestions of this nature.

“In terms of the kinds of boats that you would like to see in the program versus the kind you would like to see removed from the program, I don’t know if [the council would have] a desire to see us discriminate for one of your citizens against another,” he said. “I don’t know if we can legally say to someone we want to take you out of the program because you’re a non-fishermen.”

Depland said BP’s Vessels of Opportunity program is currently employing 250 boats encompassing 10 task forces and two groups.

This means that unless BP decides to replace existing workers with ones they have not called yet, it is unlikely any more will get hired until a third group (125 boats) is formed – something Depland said BP is currently in the process of doing.

“We believe there will be additional classes offered, because there will be opportunities for additional boats to be hired through those classes,” said Depland. “Having said that, where the classes will be held will depend in large part on where we believe the threat is and where we believe we need to deploy those boats.”

Depland does not know when or where these meetings will be scheduled at this time, but he said BP will entertain councilman Lindel Toups’ suggestion of working Lafourche Parish residents in 7-and-7 shifts as a way to double the amount of fishermen working in the program.

“When you have people working in a process like that, they gain experience,” said Depland. “And when you’re changing people out, you lose that experience that you have gained by having people work together in a group for a while. But maybe there’s some way we could look at that.”

When each fisherman signed up for the program, they were placed on a list. However, a general concern for fishermen over the past few weeks has been the fact that ones listed lower on the list received calls before they did.

Depland said this is because some fishermen were unable to be reached by phone when BP called them.

“One of the things that may have frustrated you guys is when we call captains to schedule their boats, if we don’t get an answer or a busy signal, we go to the next name on the list,” said Depland. “That may have happened in some of your cases.”

Depland suggests fishermen provide their cell phone number rather than a home phone number because cell phones could be more likely to be answered.

“They use that process, because if we call you and hold a space for you, and it takes three days to get a hold of you, we’ve delayed the task force by that much time,” said Depland. “Or if we leave a message on your answering machine, and it takes half a day for you to come back to us, that task force has been slowed down.”

Depland added some fishermen on the list may have been skipped over because the task force needed boats in a closer location to other fishermen on the list or their boat did not meet the requirements needed for a particular job.

Thomas Barrios stands with his wife Alicia and two of his children Jake and Alyssa in his boat, which currently sits on a trailer near his business in Golden Meadow. * Photo by RICHARD FISCHER