Integrity and faith
June 7, 2017
A statesman and a dear friend – Part II
June 7, 2017
The oilfield workboats are still tied up along these bayous. But the shrimp boats are out, making their way to the bays and lakes, sometimes to the open Gulf of Mexico, their captains intent on snagging up as many shrimp as they can while the season lasts.
Jeffrey Marx, who oversees the shrimp aspect of things for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, had a talk with me on Monday and was asked how things are going.
“Things are okay,” he said, noting that he’s not hearing a lot of complaints this year, meaning that shrimp are out there to be caught. They may not be as big as everyone might wish, and there might not be as many as everyone might wish. But there are shrimp for the catching, and that’s what will occur until the new crop of baby white shrimp appear, and then the brakes will be applied.
The white shrimp will get a chance to grow at some point while the shrimpers get some rest. Then at some point in August it will start up again.
For now everyone does what they can while the sun shines – or the moon glows – and we are fortunate that the peeling machines are getting enough to work full tilt at the processing houses, and the dockhands in all the places where the boats come are getting good and tired from hauling out their loads.
The shrimping business in the Bayou Region is still very much a family business, in every traditional sense of the word. Those boats are still putting kids through school, even though the prices remain low.
Among them are members of the Portier family, who live on Bayou Little Caillou. You may recall hearing about them earlier this year.
Their newest boat was built by hand, piece by piece, in the back yard, all 72-feet. The vessel, “Jesus Lives,” took to the water in January. The hands that built the vessel were those of Chad Portier, who learned from his late father, Russell Portier, and who has since taught his sons Chaddy and Jenson, ages 15 and 19, respectively.
The boat has had a good run during this, its first season.
Both of the young fellows got a chance to spend time on it but lately they’ve been involved with work closer to shore. While their dad and others work the big vessel, Chaddy and Jenson have been spending time on a different one.
Their mother, Angela Portier, can’t contain her pride.
Since school ended Chaddy has been going out with Jenson on another family owned boat, the small skiff named “Frank and Beans.”
While young in years, both have a good deal of experience between them and have been holding their own.
“They don’t fight too much,” Angela said, tongue-in-cheek because they don’t really fight. Well, an occasional brotherly disagreement. But that’s about it.
The bigger lesson that comes of all this is what has happened in our communities over a time period longer than the lifetime of either of them. It would appear that the more families have had to work together on family boats, the more they remained like families. The fewer outside problems have poked their heads into a life easily viewed as idyllic.
The idea of two young men harvesting shrimp, each bearing memories of the past feat they accomplished, the building of the great big boat, is in and of itself evocative of the strongest familial glue. It is the same type of family work that kept farmers and their children together and viable for generations. It happens a lot less here nowadays. But you can still find it. The Portiers are a prime example.
It is one more reason why support for our local commercial fishing industry is essential. It’s why we ask at restaurants where the shrimp comes from. It’s why we should spend the few extra bucks for domestic shrimp. It’s an old story. But it never gets too old to tell. Just like stories of siblings working together toward a common goal. It’s a story as old as these bayous themselves. •
