Sunken boats and washed-away docks leave Gulf fishing industry devastated after Ike

Sunken boats and washed-away docks leave Gulf fishing industry devastated after Ike

By PAUL J. WEBER , Associated Press
Last update: September 25, 2008

SAN LEON, Texas - On the eve of October's peak seafood harvesting season, migrant fishermen are sweeping debris from gutted bay side homes instead of scooping shrimp and oysters from the Gulf of Mexico's lucrative floor. The $100 million fishing industry in Galveston Bay is virtually paralyzed.

Hurricane Ike's impact is being felt among Gulf seafood harvesters, distributors and restaurants. Government and industry officials fear it will take as long as two years for the processing plants, boats and docks along the bay to recover and rebuild.
"It's like a bomb went off," said Lisa Halili, owner of Prestige Oysters Inc., which is among the largest seafood harvesters in Texas and Louisiana.

Hurricanes Ike and Gustav hit the region's fishermen hard, causing the industry to lose an estimated $300 million in Louisiana alone. The storms scattered debris in waterways and bays, broke docks and smashed boats. They killed hundreds of acres of oyster reefs with waves of shocking saltwater, and suffocated others with grass clawed from the shore and washed into the Gulf.
Hundreds of Galveston area fishermen were left jobless and they have few, if any, other options, their employers said.
Texas restaurant owners are also feeling the effects.
Seafood prices are up $2 to $3 a pound and shortages of shrimp, halibut and sea bass emerged in the first week after Ike, said Nafees Alam, vice president of Dallas Restaurant Group.
Menus aren't changing, but South Prairie Oyster Bar owner Will Wickman said he hasn't seen a Gulf oyster at his suburban Fort Worth restaurant since Hurricane Gustav. His oysters now arrive from the northwest, and customers pay as much as $3 more a dozen.
"And we're not really making anything at that," Wickman said. "But we've got to have oysters. It's kind of like going into 7-Eleven. You got to have the Big Gulp."