The INDsider -> Mary Tutwiler FRI, MAY 16 4:38AM by Mary Tutwiler

Bleak prospect for shrimp season

From the eastern shores of Barataria Bay to the western shoals at Southwest Pass, the inland shrimp season opened this week. Normally a rodeo of working boats seining up the abundance of Louisiana’s seafood crop, this year, more boats idled at the dock then hit the water. The culprit: the high price of diesel fuel. The Times Picayune lists the low price of wild shrimp, undermined by foreign imports, as a contributing factor, while the Daily Iberian reports that the shrimp themselves are still small.

The big picture for Louisiana shrimpers is grim. Shrimpers, whose families have been in the business for generations, are selling their boats and abandoning the independent lifestyle that is part of the cultural heritage of life along Louisiana’s coasts. “All we want to do is do what our daddies did and what their daddies did, to do like they did years ago,” Jean Lafitte shrimper Byron Despaux told the TP. “It ends with us right here, ‘cause none of our kids are going to be around in this industry.”

Articles by this Author:

View all articles by this author

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

You must be logged in to post a comment. Log in using your Facebook account or register if you do not have an account yet.

Most Read

David Calhoun, ‘EB’ Brooks join Lafayette Central Park

David Calhoun and Elizabeth “EB” Brooks are the first two employees of Lafayette Central Park Inc., the nonprofit charged with turning Lafayette Consolidated Government’s 100-acre Johnston Street Horse Farm property into a passive public park. Calhoun was named executive director, and Brooks is director of planning and design.
Remembering Ricky Rees

The veteran police officer remembered by friends for his large and small acts of kindness will be laid to rest Wednesday.
Zachary Barker takes helm of the Opportunity Machine

Zachary Barker continues making waves in Lafayette’s business scene, mostly recently being named director of the Opportunity Machine.
Shakin' at the Shack

There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Lafayette’s ‘sinking ship’ is cash flow positive

“We’ve crossed that magic threshold,” LUS Director Terry Huval says.

in case you missed it

COOL TOWN 2013

This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A curious compact

A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
Pooyie 2012

It's good, it's bad and it's just plain crazy.
Saving Saturday Night

An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Posthaste vs. HART FORTENBERY

Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.