Some Louisiana Oystermen Investing BP Checks in Cultch For Their Oyster Leases
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Times Picayune] By David Gunfield - April 20, 2015 -
Oysterman Wade White's Hopedale property is hard to miss. On his yard sit about 10,000 tons of crushed concrete, he said, a $300,000 investment spurred by his share of the BP oil spill settlement that he's using to build new reef in his oyster leases, in hopes of turning around years of low production since the spill.
Oyster fishers in parts of Plaquemines Parish are doing the same, feeding most or large portions of their BP checks back into the Gulf as crushed limestone or concrete. They cite declines in their catch and enticingly high oyster prices to take a chance on the investment. Some, like Wade, have taken to calling themselves "oyster farmers" rather than oyster fishers.
"We're just working to build up the farm," said White, 54. Oyster catch, he said, is "still below (pre-spill), but it's creeping back because of our investment."
Five years after the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drillship unleashed the nation's worst oil-related environmental disaster, many oyster fishers are still struggling with depleted production, especially east of the Mississippi River.
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