The Times-Picayune Publishing Company] By Chris Kirkham and Sheila Grissett - March 19, 2008 -
State officials have announced a long-awaited program that will pour $19 million into public docks, ice houses, processing plants and other projects aimed at reviving the state's battered fishing industry.
Last fall the Louisiana Recovery Authority asked government agencies and non-profit groups to come up with ideas for large-scale, bricks-and-mortar projects that would rebuild fishing communities crippled by the 2005 hurricanes. A team of national fishing industry experts reviewed 61 proposals totaling more than $114 million, and came up with 15 projects they felt would have the most impact.
Two Jefferson Parish projects, the Bucktown recreational area and a marina for the enclave's displaced fishing fleet, made the cut, along with repairs at Rosethorn Park in Jean Lafitte. About $375,000 in LRA money will go to fishing piers in New Orleans City Park lagoons along Marconi Drive and Wisner Boulevard.
'The expectation we have is that these investments . . . are going help put a foothold back in for the fisheries sector as they're climbing back up, and bring them back to the level they were at before,' said Adam Knapp, LRA's deputy director. 'They're not all processing plants, they're not all boat launches. There are a myriad of different things that got funded.'
Projects in Plaquemines Parish, a historical hub for the state's oyster and shrimp industries, received a large chunk of the money, totaling nearly $5 million. The LRA approved more than $1 million each for projects to rebuild and add on to the Venice shipyard, to build new ice houses for fishing boats throughout the parish and to help build two new processing plants: one for oysters and another for the LA Shrimp & Seafood Co., a co-op where fishers can sell their products.
Also in the eastern part of the state, Grand Isle received $2 million for public fishing docks for its fleet. Space has been at a premium for commercial fishing boats on the island since the Wayne Estay Shrimp Co., one of two major shrimp docks on the island, closed late last year.
'We've lost over half the dock space,' said Wayne Keller, executive director of the Grand Isle Port Commission, which coordinated the grant for the docks and a boat lift for large shrimp boats. 'That's already displaced quite a few of the shrimpers.'
Details on the Bucktown marina, a priority for the historic fishing fleet that was displaced after damage to the 17th Street Canal, are still hazy. The parish now has $3.6 million to go forward with plans for the Bucktown recreational area, which could include boat slips for commercial and recreational vessels, a fishing pier and picnic tables. The parish put up $1.5 million for the project and will receive $2.1 million from the LRA program, although their initial request was for $4.2 million.
Jefferson Parish Councilwoman Jennifer Sneed, whose district includes the Bucktown area, said consulting engineers who have worked with the parish on master plans for the neighborhood will give estimates of what can be done with the money in hand.
'We're looking at needs versus what was already on the drawing board,' Sneed said, 'knowing that all along it has been the goal for us to have a recreational park and marina at that location, and to protect the guys who have been there for generations.'
Sneed said she expects to have more detailed plans by the end of next month. Since being displaced by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent repairs to the 17th Street Canal, the century-old Bucktown fishing fleet has had to jockey for space with sport fishers at the Bonnabel Boat Launch and, more recently, temporary piers near the Coast Guard control station in Bucktown.
Russell Boudreaux, vice president of the Lake Pontchartrain Fishermen's Association who represents the Bucktown fleet, said the fleet needs 30-35 slips to accommodate the shrimp and crab fishers who make their living in the lake. Many fishers now are swapping spots, while others are traveling to St. Bernard Parish or elsewhere to fish, Boudreaux said, but it doesn't compare to having a permanent home.
'Bucktown was basically gone -- the storm blew it away,' he said. 'Now we're trying to reclaim some of that heritage.'
Parish officials also need to coordinate any waterfront construction with the Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers, to ensure that projects don't interfere with one another.
The Rosethorn Park project will receive $300,000, mostly to improve boat launches there.
The $19 million recovery program is one of several targeted to the fishing industry, but many have yet to get off the ground.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is delivering $41 million in direct aid to fishers from a congressional appropriation. The money was expected to be distributed this spring, but it will be delayed until early summer as the department resolves legal details.
The Department of Economic Development will be launching a second small business grant and loan program next month. Many fishers received $20,000 grants last year from a similar program, but there were complaints about delays in distributions.
