sunken boats, tangled nets, and disrupted lives: …estimate that the galveston storm had winds of...

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American Fisheries Society Symposium 64:145–167, 2008

Sunken Boats, Tangled Nets, and Disrupted Lives: Impacts of Hurricane Katrina on Two Coastal Areas of

Louisiana

Palma J. Ingles*NOAA Fisheries, Southeast Regional Office

263 13th Street South, St. Petersburg, Florida 32605, USA

Abstract.—On 29 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina came ashore devastating coastal communities in the northern Gulf of Mexico. This paper examines the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on two fishing communities in Louisiana: Grand Isle and the Em-pire-Venice area. Both of these areas were heavily involved in the commercial fishing industry before the hurricane hit. Empire-Venice is one of the top commercial fishing ports by volume of landings in the country. As the storm crossed the wetlands south of New Orleans, boats were sunk, houses and businesses were destroyed, and lives were changed, in some cases, perhaps, forever.

After a natural disaster, it is important to examine impacts not only on the physi-cal and biological environments, but also on the human communities located within those environments. The author conducted ethnographic research with fishermen and people who work in fishing-related businesses in both of these communities in 2004, the year before Hurricane Katrina landed. This provided valuable baseline informa-tion for comparison when the author returned in 2006. A year after the hurricane, both communities were still struggling to recover from the storm. Grand Isle was recov-ering at a faster rate than the Empire-Venice area, which still looked like the storm had struck yesterday. This paper will describe some of the challenges of living in vulnerable areas of coastal Louisiana as well as explore the differences that underlie the rebuild-ing of these communities and the potential for recovery. Additionally, lessons learned for conducting research in fishing communities that have been devastated by natural disasters will be discussed.

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

IntroductionHurricane Katrina came ashore in the

early hours of 29 August 2005, first in Louisi-ana and then in Mississippi, obliterating coast-al communities from west of New Orleans to east of Mobile Bay in Alabama. The storm surge destroyed homes, businesses, churches, schools, bridges, and roadways, leaving behind debris piles 30 ft high in places where people once lived. This was one of the worst and most costly natural disasters in the history of the United States. The storm could cost the states affected by the storm as much as US$125 bil-lion dollars (NOAA 2008). Thousands of peo-

ple evacuated their coastal homes, moving to other locations throughout the United States. A year after the storm, many people were still displaced and their lives have changed for-ever. Some who had left their coastal homes have returned and are trying to rebuild their lives and communities, while others have tak-en up permanent residence elsewhere and may never return.

Soon after Katrina hit Louisiana, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a fishery failure and fishery resource disaster declara-tion for the Gulf of Mexico. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries re-ported that “33% of the wholesale and retail seafood dealers licensed in Louisiana, 35% of

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the commercial fishermen, nearly 50% of the commercial vessels, and 63% of the charter vessels are based in parishes affected by Ka-trina” (Louisiana State University Agricultural Center 2007).

If you live in a coastal community along the Gulf of Mexico, the forecast and likely oc-currence of a hurricane hitting the Gulf dur-ing the hurricane season is nothing new. For many years, a hurricane of the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina had been predicted for the northern Gulf of Mexico. Even before Ka-trina made landfall, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) listed New Or-leans as one of the most vulnerable areas in the United States if a major hurricane were to strike due to the loss of much of the wet-lands and barrier islands that would otherwise protect the city from storm surge and because much of New Orleans is below sea level sur-rounded by levees to keep the water out (Bourne 2004).

By necessity, fishing communities are usu-ally located in coastal areas where fishermen can easily gain access to the marine resources. In the case of the Gulf of Mexico, this exposes fishing communities to the ravages of hurri-canes because of the low-lying topography in most coastal regions of the Gulf. Talk to the old timers who have grown up along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and they will relate sto-ries of the other big hurricanes that are part of the history of their area. For example, on 8 September 1900, an unnamed hurricane hit Galveston, Texas, killing between 6,000 and 8,000 people out of a population of approxi-mately 37,000. In terms of the loss of lives, it is considered the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. Meteorologists estimate that the Galveston storm had winds of 130–140 mi/h, a category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale. People in Louisiana will speak of Hurricane Audrey, which destroyed much of Cameron, Louisiana in 1957, causing almost 400 deaths. They also remember Hur-ricane Betsy, which made landfall in Louisiana as a category 4 storm in 1965, killing 75 people. Betsy wiped out most of Grand Isle, Louisiana, which reported wind gusts of up to 160 mi/h. Until Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Camille

had always been the benchmark for the worst hurricane to strike Louisiana. Hurricane Ca-mille made landfall east of the Mississippi Riv-er on 17 August 1969. Coming in as a category 5 storm, and causing 256 deaths, Camille had sustained winds estimated at 180–190 mi/h, gusts of wind at 210–220 mi/h, and a storm surge of 25 ft (NOAA 2000).

As with Katrina, Hurricane Camille de-stroyed most of the Empire-Venice area. It remains the strongest hurricane known to ever hit the United States. After each of the major hurricanes, some people moved away from the coast while others returned to their communities and rebuilt their lives as well as their fishing industries, continuing to live in areas that are vulnerable to natural disasters. However, for many residents of communities along the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katrina was different.

The commercial and recreational fishing industries play an important role in the lives of many who live in the coastal communities af-fected by Hurricane Katrina. The storm caused a major disruption in the lives of the people in this area and severely crippled the fishing in-dustries. The aftermath of the storm revealed hundreds of sunken boats of various sizes and descriptions—from tugboats and barges to fishing boats—along the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama coastlines. Many of the boats that did not sink were washed into the marshes and surrounding bayous, stranded on roadways and levees, or were heavily damaged, some beyond repair. A year after the storm, salvaging opera-tions continued as boats were pulled from the bayous of the Gulf of Mexico.

Louisiana produces approximately 40% of the shrimp, 37% of the oysters, and 26% of the blue crabs Callinectes sapidus in the United States (Louisiana State University Agricultural Center 2007). Crawfish and finfish are also im-portant species harvested in the state. In 2003, the retail value of the state’s commercial and recreational harvest was worth $2.85 billion (Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Task Force 2007). In 2005, Louisi-ana landed 847.2 million pounds of seafood, second only to Alaska in pounds landed in the United States. By value of the landings, Louisi-

147sunken boats, tangled nets, and dIsruPted lIves

ana came in fourth with landings worth $253 million. Empire-Venice area ranked fifth in quantity of seafood landed in 2005 with 170.8 million pounds (U.S. Department of Com-merce 2007). In 2004, there were 8,433 com-mercial fishery participants in the state of Lou-isiana, which included 1,033 federal permits and 8,433 state permits (Impact Assessment, Inc. 2007). Even with impressive numbers in terms of landings, the fishing industry in Loui-siana has declined in the past decade due to low prices paid at the docks for shrimp, declin-ing fish stocks, tougher fishing regulations, and competition from imports from around the globe. Researchers at the Louisiana State Uni-versity Agricultural Center estimate that about 42% of commercial fishermen in Louisiana have gone out of business in the past decade (Louisiana State University Agricultural Center 2007). Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused ad-ditional problems for the fishing industry that was already struggling to survive.

According to Louisiana Sea Grant, Hurri-cane Katrina and Hurricane Rita (which struck on 24 September 2005) collectively caused $1 billion worth of infrastructural damage to the fishing industry in Louisiana (Louisiana Sea Grant 2006). After Katrina, businesses de-pendent on the fishing industry were closed, thousands of workers and fishermen were displaced, and thousands of commercial and recreational fishing boats were damaged or destroyed. Additionally, many of the state’s oyster beds were in areas impacted by Katrina and will require restoration and reseeding. Throughout the affected areas, communities are rebuilding and members are hoping to re-gain their livelihoods based on the extraction of marine resources. The seafood industry in Louisiana has been struggling to rebuild in-frastructure since the hurricanes struck the northern Gulf of Mexico. Some fishing-relat-ed businesses that were damaged or destroyed will not reopen.

It is important to understand the human environment when writing new fishing man-agement plans. This includes descriptive anal-ysis of the fishing communities that will be impacted by new regulations. Research needs to be conducted in fishing communities to de-

velop community profiles to gain a better un-derstanding of the fishermen and businesses that are dependent upon the fishing industry. If new regulations are going to result in the loss of jobs in fishing communities, fisheries managers should take into consideration what other opportunities exist for employment in the communities. Community profiles aim to describe the demographics of a community and the amount of dependency the commu-nity has upon the recreational, subsistence, and commercial fishing industries. A starting point for describing communities dependent on the fishing industry is an analysis of sec-ondary data such as U.S. Census data, fishing permit data, landings data, and economic data, among others.

Along with the analysis of secondary data, anthropological research in coastal com-munities along the Gulf of Mexico has been undertaken by the National Oceanic and At-mospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in order to comply with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conserva-tion and Management Act, National Standard 8 (MSA, NS8) program. The MSA, NS8 re-quires fishery managers to consider the social and economic impacts on fishing communi-ties when promulgating new regulations. The NMFS Southeast Regional Office has been conducting research in the Gulf of Mexico as part of NS8 requirements. As part of these tasks, it is important to understand the role that fishing—commercial, recreational, and subsistence—plays within coastal communi-ties. This includes understanding the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the impacted com-munities and fishing industry.

Starting in 2002, the NMFS Southeast Re-gional Office contracted Impact Assessment, Inc., to conduct preliminary research to iden-tify communities associated with the fishing industry in all five states that border the Gulf of Mexico, including Louisiana (Impact As-sessment, Inc. 2005). Research reports for the study had been completed and submitted to NMFS a few months before Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. The reports were the most comprehensive reports available on the status of fishing communities in the Gulf be-

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fore Hurricane Katrina and provided valuable baseline data for examining fishing commu-nities affected by Katrina. Impact Assessment, Inc. was also contracted by NMFS after Ka-trina to do a preliminary assessment of com-munities that were impacted by the hurricane (Impact Assessment, Inc. 2007).

Before Hurricane Katrina, the author had also conducted more in-depth commu-nity studies in select communities along the Gulf of Mexico (Ingles 2007a, 2007b); how-ever, due to budgetary priorities and lack of enough personnel trained in anthropology who work for NMFS, only a few communities in the southeast region have been studied in depth. This continues to leave a gap in fully understanding potential social impacts of new regulations on fishing communities. Grand Isle and the Empire-Venice area of Louisiana were chosen for a research study by the au-thor in 2004 due to the role that these com-munities play in the shrimp industry.

This paper presents preliminary findings based on research conducted a year after the storm in two of the fishing areas of Louisiana that were heavily impacted by Hurricane Ka-trina: Grand Isle and the Empire-Venice area. These two areas of Louisiana were chosen for study because there was baseline information available from the study conducted in 2004. Research conducted before the storm in 2004 provided invaluable data to compare with data collected in 2006 (see Ingles 2007a, 2007b). The research was funded by NMFS under the direction of the author, an anthropologist for the agency. The research team conducted eth-nographic interviews in Grand Isle, Louisiana in June 2006 and in the area of Empire-Venice, Louisiana in August 2006 to better understand the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on the fish-ing industries in these communities and the challenges for recovery (see Ingles and McIl-vaine-Newsad 2007). The team interviewed fishermen, people who work in fishing related businesses, and other community members.

A Setting for DisasterTo understand the risks that coastal com-

munities in Louisiana face each year as the

hurricane season approaches, it is important to understand some of the environmental his-tory of the Louisiana wetlands and barrier is-lands. According to Bourne (2000), since the 1930s, more than 1,900 square miles of coast-al wetlands in the Gulf of Mexico have been lost. This comprises an area about the size of Delaware. Approximately 40% of the coastal wetlands of the contiguous United States are in Louisiana. Yet, Louisiana accounts for 80% of wetland loss in the United States (Bourne 2000). As the largest wetland region in the United States, the bayous and marshes of Louisiana support one of the most productive marine environments in the world. S. Jeffress Williams of the U.S. Geological Survey states that “the swamps and marshes of coastal Loui-siana are among the nation’s most fragile and valuable wetlands.” Yet, before Katrina, Loui-siana was losing almost 44 acres of marshlands and barrier islands a day that not only serve as protection against storms, but also are the locations of nurseries for the state’s fisheries (U.S. Geological Survey 1995).

Many communities in southern Louisiana are surrounded by levees to protect low-lying areas that are only a few feet above sea level or, in some places, below sea level. The levees of Louisiana were built to specifications to with-stand a category 3 hurricane with a predicted storm surge of 12 ft. Although Hurricane Ka-trina was classified as a category 3, the storm surge, which reached up to 30 ft in some areas of coastal Mississippi and 25 ft in Louisiana, poured over the levees in many areas, and le-vee walls inundated with water were breached, flooding many communities.

There continues to be much discussion about how best to protect Louisiana from the next big storm, which many people suggest is not a matter of if but a matter of when. Much of the wetland areas that served to slow down the storm surge caused by Hurricane Katrina were washed away, leaving southern Louisiana even more vulnerable than before to the next hurricane that could hit the area. Federal as-sistance will be needed to rebuild and possibly raise the level of the levees that protect many coastal areas. Since the 1970s, there have been various plans for restoring the delta area to


protect the communities, as well as the wild-life dependent on the wetlands, marshes, and bayous, but so far, major steps for restoration have not been taken.

The Mississippi delta area has contin-ued a natural subsidence, sinking 4 ft since 1950 and drowning land that was once above sea level (Pettersen et al. 2006). Subsidence adds to erosion and degradation of the land. Massive building projects, including canals, levees, locks, and dams, have changed the course of the meandering Mississippi River and prevented it from replenishing the outer wetlands, marshes, and barrier islands with new silt to replace what is lost every year to storms, hurricanes, and tidal action. As a re-sult, land is subsiding and the wetlands of Louisiana are now starved of refreshing nutri-ents, sediments, and water. Canals were built throughout areas where oil and natural gas was extracted to facilitate the extraction pro-cess. This has resulted in land erosion and loss of wetlands and marshes.

Oil extraction has been an important eco-nomic factor for Louisiana since the first oil wells were drilled in the wetlands in the early 1900s. Oil and gas exploration require labor from people who live in many of the coastal communities in Louisiana. In 2003, Louisiana ranked first in the United States for crude oil production and second in natural gas pro-duction, paying $2.7 billion in wages to more than 42,000 workers, more than half of whom live in coastal areas of Louisiana (Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restora-tion Task Force 2007). Much of the support infrastructure for the oil and gas industries is located in bayou towns where there are docks that service supply boats for oil rigs, oil refin-eries, and heliports to service helicopters that fly employees to offshore rigs. For those in-volved in the oil and gas industry, rebuilding these bayou areas is a necessity.

The commercial fishing industry in Loui-siana is very important to the economy of Louisiana, as well as one of the most impor-tant areas for domestic seafood production in the United States. Fisheries industries provide more than 40,000 jobs for people living in Louisiana (Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Con-

servation and Restoration Task Force 2007). Many working these jobs live in communities in the coastal areas. Fishermen and those who depend on the fishing industry will continue to fight for their communities to be rebuilt. Recreational fishing is also a huge industry in Louisiana, and it depends on the natural re-sources to support the tourists who come to fish the rich waters. Some fishermen contend that proposed plans for returning the river to its original course and delivering silt and sediments to the delta would alter the nature of the marine resources, especially the oyster habitat. On the other hand, if the barrier is-lands and wetlands are allowed to continue to sink below the surface of the water, there will be few nursery areas for marine species, little protection against future storms, and a scar-city of land for human habitation.

The debate over what should be restored, and who should pay, will continue even as new building projects break ground. Some will ar-gue that with the loss of wetland areas and barrier islands from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, rebuilding to the level of what was there before may not be enough to protect areas from the next category 3 hurricane, much less a more powerful hurricane. It is of vital inter-est to participants of the fishing industries, gas and oil production, as well as other southern Louisiana businesses and residents, to find a way to protect and rebuild the delta wetlands, which will help to preserve dry ground, pro-viding places for people to work and live.

The Fishing Communities in this Study

The communities in this study are among many communities in the northern Gulf of Mexico that were devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We chose to do our study in the Grand Isle and Empire-Venice commu-nities because we already had baseline data collected in 2004 for comparison and we had contacts in the fishing industry in these loca-tions. Both areas rely heavily on the shrimp fishery, the major fishery in the Gulf of Mex-ico. Some fishermen in these communities

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survived both hurricanes Betsy and Camille and rebuilt their lives and fishing industries afterwards. Others were not born yet or were too young to remember the hurricanes of the 1960s. For fishermen of Asian descent in the Empire-Venice area, who started coming to this country in the late 1970s, this was the first major hurricane they had been through in the bayous of Louisiana. In Louisiana, most of the fishing infrastructure from Grand Isle east was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Research MethodologyWhen anthropologists study the impacts

of a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina, it is important to approach the subject holistically to understand how the environmental, bio-logical, and sociocultural worlds interact as people try to rebuild their communities and prepare for the future. It is common after a disaster for state and federal natural resource agencies to conduct research on the physical and biological environments, but what about the people who were affected? The human environment was affected by the hurricane, and it is vital to understand the impacts of this natural disaster on the people and the com-munities in which they live and work. How were the people and communities surviving and adjusting to this drastic change and dis-ruption in their surroundings?

The research questions for this study were developed after the consideration of several key factors. Grand Isle and the Empire-Venice area are very dependent on the shrimp fishery. The shrimp fishery in the Gulf of Mexico has been overcapitalized for many years, although the number of boats actively participating in the shrimp fishery has decreased after the hurricanes of 2005. There have been recent discussions in and actions by the management community on ways to downsize the shrimp fishery in the Gulf, including recent imple-mentation of a moratorium on the number of shrimp fishing permits for federal waters. Due to the loss or damage of so many boats, as well as loss of fishing infrastructure, it was im-portant to determine the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the shrimp fishery. What were the

challenges to recovery, had changes occurred in the shrimp fishery in the Gulf, and would fishermen who had lost everything come back to the fishing industry? Would fishermen re-turn to these areas that are so vulnerable to environmental calamity? To answer these questions, ethnographic interviews and direct observation were used as the main method-ological tools for conducting research.

Ethnography has been important to the science of anthropology dating back to some of the first anthropologists. Although there are many methods for collecting anthropo-logical information in the field, semistruc-tured, casual ethnographic interviews were the most appropriate way to approach our particular research agenda given the relatively short period of time available to spend in the field. An ethnographic approach works much better in a postdisaster setting than a survey for anthropological research because it lets the people being interviewed tell their story full of rich detail, which a survey would not have captured. Ethnographic interviews focus on topics of discussion, not specific questions. Our research was not a statistical sample be-cause so many people had been displaced. It is difficult to use a stratified, random sample if you plan to talk to fishermen in person, and it is even more difficult after a disaster, when people in the impacted communities are spending much of their time rebuilding their homes and businesses and may not have time to answer a survey. Plus, the very nature of fishing makes it problematic to set up in-terviews with fishermen, even under normal circumstances.

For the purpose of this research, surveys would not have captured the information we were trying to obtain. First, many people work-ing in the fishing industry in our study area had been displaced from their communities and some had not yet returned and no longer had a permanent mailing address, making a written mail-out survey problematic. Second, surveys often have questions that solicit lim-ited answers that do not have the range and depth of information we were looking for. Third, some of the fishermen in the Empire-Venice area speak English at a minimal level,


if at all, and would not have been able to an-swer a survey written in English. Furthermore, others may question how a survey could help them and why the government is asking ques-tions and may not reply.

The key to understanding how the two coastal fishing communities in this study were affected by Hurricane Katrina was to talk with as many people in the communities as pos-sible. To find people to interview, we went to the docks to find as many people as we could to talk to. We also observed the reconstruction of shrimp houses, docks, boats, and commer-cial and recreational marinas, in addition to daily salvaging and clean-up in the communi-ties. Casual, ethnographic interviews allowed us the opportunity to talk to people while they were waiting at docks to unload their catches or, in the case of business owners and dock workers, while they were waiting for more boats to come in.

We went to the offices of realtors, tourism promoters, marinas, city government officials, and others who could talk with us about the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on the fishing industry and on the community. We followed a protocol developed by the author for dis-cussions during ethnographic interviews in the Gulf of Mexico that was based in part on protocol that has been developed by NMFS. These topics for discussion, along with addi-tional topics specifically related to the fish-eries in the Gulf, were used as the basis for research in coastal communities dependent on fishing before Hurricane Katrina struck. We added topics for discussion to the original protocol that were specifically focused on im-pacts of Hurricane Katrina on these commu-nities. These included topics such as how the individual being interviewed was affected by Hurricane Katrina. Did they lose their house? Did they lose their boat or their business? Did they have insurance? Would they recover and continue to be part of the fishing industry? What were the biggest challenges facing them and their community?

For some fishermen and others in the fishing industry, this was the first time any-one from a fisheries management agency had ever talked to them directly about the fishing

industry in their area and their own experi-ences on the water. Some were very eager to talk to us and thanked us for taking time to lis-ten, especially after a disaster such as Katrina. Some interviews were very long, while others were much shorter. Occasionally, while inter-viewing one person, one or two others might join the conversation adding to what the first person was saying. It is difficult to count the exact number of people interviewed because of the process of people joining and leaving the conversation.

Even though Hurricane Katrina struck a year before our research in these communi-ties, many people were still traumatized by the impacts of the hurricane and their uncertain future. Overall, people were very open and willing to talk about their experiences. Some people wanted to talk for a long time and ex-plain every detail, while others were less forth-coming. Flexibility was a key to the interview process.

Because we were trying to find out as much information as possible about the ef-fects of the hurricane, we were interested in individual stories of surviving the storm and rebuilding. Although the time we spent in the communities was limited, we noted a certain consistency in what people had experienced and in their processes towards recovery. As de-velopment and gentrification continue to en-croach on bayou communities in Louisiana, it is important to collect these oral histories that are full of rich text that can be preserved long after the last shrimp dock is bulldozed and re-placed with a high-rise condominium.

The Shrimp Industry in LouisianaFor this study, we mainly focused on the

impacts to the shrimp fishery, due to the im-portance of shrimping for both areas. Before Hurricane Katrina, the shrimp fishery was the most important fishery in the Gulf of Mexi-co and an important fishery for the United States. Shrimp boats in the Gulf range in size from iceboats as small as 25 ft in length to large freezer boats that are more than 90 ft in length (Figure 1). The smaller boats mostly fish in estuaries and bayous of state waters

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and the bigger boats usually fish offshore in federal waters. In 2004, shrimp was ranked second in value in the United States for all do-mestic species landed and eighth by pounds landed. Eighty-two percent, or 214.5 million pounds, of the domestic shrimp landed in the United States in 2005 were landed in the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana brings in the most shrimp of any state in the Gulf, landing 104.2 million pounds in 2005 (U.S. Department of Commerce 2007).

The shrimp fishery in the Gulf of Mexico has been in decline since 2001 due to high costs of fuel, insurance, and equipment cou-pled with the lower prices shrimpers receive at the dock due to competition from low-priced imported shrimp. In 2005, more than 90% of the shrimp consumed in the United States was imported, and most of that was farm-raised (U.S. Department of Commerce 2007). Shrimpers interviewed in the Gulf of Mexico report making less and less income from shrimping each year since 2001, forcing

some to get out of shrimping. Some shrimp-ers interviewed said that by the time they paid for fuel and other supplies and paid the crew, the amount they were paid at the dock for the shrimp they brought in was less than their ex-penses for the trip.

As prices paid for shrimp at the docks fell, it became harder to pay the bank notes for larger boats and to afford the fuel for a long fishing trip. As one fisherman in Grand Isle said “big notes for big boats” Throughout the Gulf, shrimp boats are tied up at the docks and no longer working. Some shrimpers are finding the only way to survive is with small-er, more fuel-efficient boats that fish close to shore. Others are also changing their fishing patterns and returning to the docks after a few days out. A common complaint is that no matter what cost saving measures they use, the cost of fuel, coupled with the low price paid for shrimp at the dock, is going to put them all out of business.

Shrimp boat captains reported that it is

Figure 1. Before Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana, the shrimp fishery was overcapitalized. In this photo, shrimp boats are lined up at a shrimp dock in Grand Isle, Louisiana a year before Hurricane Katrina. (Photograph by author, July 2003.)


becoming more difficult to find and retain good crew because crew work on a percent-age share of the profits, which has been drasti-cally reduced in the last few years. Yet, many continue to shrimp and try to make a living. Some boat owners interviewed believe that if they can just survive in the industry a few more years, they will be one of those who con-tinue to make a living shrimping. For them, it is in their blood and their way of life and not something that they easily give up. In inter-views, it is common to hear “I am going to give this one more year…then if the prices don’t improve; I am tying my boat up”

Grand IsleGrand Isle is located in Jefferson Parish

at the end of Highway 1, 110 mi southwest of New Orleans. Before the oil industry moved in during the mid-1900s, most people on the island were involved in the fishing industry. The oil industry and the commercial fishing industry continue to be the main industries in the community, along with support for recre-ational fishing and tourism. The majority of the permanent residents self-identify as Ca-juns, many of whom are third or fourth gen-eration fishermen on the island. Shrimp fish-ing has long been important to the economy of the island. There are two commercial fish docks that buy from a variety of boats that fish the inland bays and bayous as well as the Gulf of Mexico. One dock unloads and packs only shrimp; the other takes in mostly shrimp but also unloads fish. In 2005, there were a total of 543 boats that unloaded shrimp to the docks located there. Many of the fishermen who un-load at the docks are residents of the island.

Grand Isle has long been a favorite launch-ing place for recreational and charter fisher-men. The island has many vacation homes and fish camps that cater to this clientele. Miles of marshes and inland waterways surround the island, and there is easy access to the Gulf of Mexico. There are several large fishing tour-naments in the community each year. Most of the hotels and summer homes are occupied by people who come for the recreational fishing. Land values continue to increase, and more

tourist infrastructure is being built. Even with the increase in gentrification, as of now, fish-ing remains an important part of the island economy.

Research conducted in Grand Isle in 2004 revealed a community that was still very dependent on both the commercial and rec-reational fishing industries. There were many hotels and restaurants that catered to visitors who came for the recreational fishing. Fish-ing tournaments were an important source of revenue for the community, bringing in hundreds of people for 2 or 3 d at a time. In 2004, there were signs of gentrification that were taking place in this fishing community as new expensive homes were being built along waterfront property. For years, outsiders had built vacation homes or fishing camps that were used mostly by people who came season-ally for recreational fishing. In 2004, new de-velopments were being added with expensive vacation homes with private boat docks and marinas. According to interviews with locals, most of the houses that included Gulf-front property were owned by outsiders, while the majority of the full time residents lived in the center of the island or along the back bay.

In 2004, many of the local residents of Grand Isle participated in the shrimp fish-ery. The shrimp fishery was already in crisis due to the price of imports and competition from imported shrimp. Even though some large freezer boats did unload shrimp at the docks in Grand Isle, most of the shrimp boats owned by residents of Grand Isle were small, often operated by the captain/owner. As the shrimp fishery in the Gulf has experienced a major downturn for the last decade, many of the large freezer boats have been repossessed by the banks when owners could not make their payments. Even though the shrimp-ers in Grand Isle were also impacted by the high cost of fuel and equipment compared to the low price they received for shrimp at the docks, many of the fishermen interviewed said the only reason they were still in busi-ness was that they had resisted buying larger freezer boats to catch shrimp and continued to use their small ice boats, which reduced their investment. Families worked together on

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the shrimp boats or captains hired local resi-dents as crew on their boats. The captains in Grand Isle did not report as many problems finding a crew as has been reported in other areas of the Gulf. Many of the shrimp boats from Grand Isle fished the waters nearby, of-ten going out for less than 24 h According to interviews in 2004, residents of Grand Isle said that commercial and recreational fishing would continue to play an important role in the economy of Grand Isle.

Grand Isle is only a few feet above sea level. The Gulf side is protected by an earthen levee. When Hurricane Katrina struck, the storm surge pushed water up into Barataria Bay, located on the northeastern side of the island, and most of the flooding was from the bay side, not from the Gulf side. Buildings were damaged by the winds from the hurri-cane, and the whole island was inundated with water, flooding houses, businesses, churches, marinas, schools, and other structures. When the storm was over, many residents returned to find their houses and businesses damaged or destroyed. According to one city official, there were fewer than 650 houses in the com-munity before the storm and more than 75 of them were completely destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Some of the sections of the bridge linking the island with the mainland had shifted, making the bridge impassable to cars and trucks for several months.

Cleanup and rebuilding in Grand Isle started within a few weeks of the storm. Lo-cals interviewed said they were anxious to get back to their homes and started much of the cleanup and rebuilding on their own. Recov-ery efforts were also aided by FEMA, the Na-tional Guard, and other governmental agen-cies. During interviews, people explained that Grand Isle is a close knit community and everyone knows each other, which may have aided in cooperation during the cleanup. People in Grand Isle also credit the numerous volunteer groups that came to help their com-munity with recovery efforts. Some people on Grand Isle had houses that, although dam-aged, were livable, while others had to wait to secure a FEMA trailer before moving back. Community members came together to help

rebuild the only grocery store, a key to being able to live on the island. Most of the restau-rants, bars, gas stations, and hotels that were not destroyed had been repaired and were open as of June 2006 or had plans to open soon. FEMA trailers were parked in many of the yards, housing residents while they rebuilt their homes. The schools were being rebuilt in time for the start of the 2006 school year. In June 2006, tourists were again coming to the island to fish and to participate in fish-ing tournaments. According to a local real-tor, land values were increasing and sales of vacant lots were booming as outsiders bought up land to build vacation homes.

Before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Grand Isle, most of the commercial fisher-men moved their boats to the western part of Louisiana or up the canal along Highway 1 to Golden Meadow, about 30 mi away, to secure their boats behind the canal locks located there. Typically when a hurricane is approach-ing, boats are moved up the canal, north of the lock, and the lock is then closed to pro-tect the northern part of the canal from storm surge. This has been a common practice since the canals and locks were constructed in the middle of the 20th century. Most of the com-mercial fishing boats from Grand Isle survived the storm with little or no damage by moving them behind the locks or to other locations west of Grand Isle. A city official in Grand Isle said that the 10 to 15 commercial fishing boats from the community that were lost to the storm were unable to be moved from the area because of mechanical difficulties such as engine trouble. Even though few commer-cial fishing boats were lost, hundreds of rec-reational boats of all sizes were lost. Many of them belonged to absentee owners who did not make it back to Grand Isle before the storm to secure their boats. As a result, recre-ational boats were washed into the surround-ing bayous and waterways.

Most of the shrimpers who moved their boats behind the safety of the locks were not able to resume shrimping around Grand Isle until several months after the storm, due to the shortage of dock space, fuel, and ice houses to service the shrimp boats. There was


also debris from the storm choking the water-ways. Some shrimpers chose not to return to shrimping until early spring of 2006, due to other obligations created by the storm. Many of the shrimpers from Grand Isle had houses that were lost or damaged, and they worked on rebuilding their houses before returning to fishing. Others had to wait until they could receive a FEMA trailer to be able to move back to the island. Some took temporary jobs do-ing debris clean up for FEMA, both on land and in the waterways.

The two commercial fishing docks in Grand Isle are both located on the bay side of the island. Both businesses were hit by storm surges more than 10 ft high, and most of the commercial fishing infrastructure was destroyed by the water and the winds. Both of the businesses lost their ice machines, which provide tons of ice each week for the fishing boats and for the shrimp and fish that are be-ing shipped out. They also lost their fuel tanks, docks, and other support buildings. During the time the fishing docks were closed, fisher-men who normally fished in the area fished and unloaded their catch at other locations to the west.

By early spring of 2006, many of the shrimpers of Grand Isle were again working the local waterways, looking for shrimp. As more of the fishermen moved back to the is-land, it was important for the docks to be re-built to help service the boats that depended on them. One business opened on a limited basis in November 2005 and the other opened in April 2006. In June of 2006, both were still in the process of rebuilding. Although the shrimp were plentiful in the spring, docks that unload shrimp experienced difficulty in finding processors to send the shrimp to due to the total destruction of some of the big shrimp processors located in other parts of Louisiana and in Biloxi, Mississippi. The shrimp processors that were in business had an abundance of shrimp to process and were paying a lower price per pound than before the storm, which kept the price paid to the shrimpers at the docks low.

In 2006, the small community of Grand Isle proved to be resilient and the residents

were working together to reclaim their lives. Overall, almost 1 year after the hurricane, Grand Isle was making great strides towards recovery of their island and of their fishing industries. Fishing tournaments had returned bringing in much needed cash to the local economy. Many of the fishermen who were from Grand Isle or unloaded their catch there before the storm had resumed business with the two rebuilt commercial docks. The spring shrimp season in local waters had produced an abundance of shrimp and given most peo-ple involved in the shrimp industry hope that they had survived the worst of the storm and were on their way to resuming a normal life—at least until the next hurricane.

Empire-VeniceThe Empire-Venice area, located in

Plaquemines Parish, is a series of intercon-nected fishing communities that include, from north to south, Empire, Buras, Triumph, Boothville, and Venice. The communities are located at the end of Highway 23, 75 mi south-east of New Orleans. For statistical purposes, NMFS often lumps these communities togeth-er as Empire-Venice. It is not uncommon for a person to live in one of these communities and unload their catch and dock their boat in another. The main employers for these com-munities are the oil industry and the fishing industry, of which the shrimp fishery is the most important and most valuable fishery. The Empire-Venice area is considered one of the top fishing ports in the country. In 2005, they ranked fifth in the country for quantity of commercial fishery landings and sixth by value, down from third place in 2004 before Hurricane Katrina hit (U.S. Department of Commerce 2007). Shrimp, menhaden, and oysters are the major fisheries there. Plaque-mines Parish is one of the most productive ar-eas in the country for the oyster fishery. Fish-ermen in the area also bring in fish, including shark, and harvest blue crabs.

The communities are situated on a nar-row swath of land, less than a mile wide, that is located at or below sea level with levees bor-dering the Mississippi River to the east and

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the bayous of the Gulf of Mexico to the west. As you drive down Highway 23, the last 20 mi are characterized by commercial and recre-ational marinas, boat harbors, fishing docks, and packing houses, as well as infrastructure for the oil industry. Venice is the last commu-nity at the end of the highway, located near the mouth of the Mississippi.

The Empire-Venice area has long been known for its commercial and recreational fish-ing resources. The area has easy access to the plentiful bayous and waterways and the Gulf of Mexico for both commercial and recreational fishermen. Some of the fishermen in the area are third- or fourth-generation Cajun fisher-men. Starting in the late 1970s, Vietnamese im-migrants began to arrive in the area and slowly entered the shrimp, crab, and oyster fisheries. Today, the majority of the fishermen in Em-pire-Venice are of Asian descent.

When we conducted research in the Em-pire-Venice area in 2004, we found an area that was very dependent on both the commer-cial and recreational fishing industries as well as the oil industry. The majority of the busi-nesses in the area supported fishing or oil. There were many commercial fishing docks, processors, recreational marinas, and other businesses that catered to fishermen. In Ven-ice, there were two recreational marinas that had lodging and bars and restaurants. There were several areas with fuel storage tanks and heliports from which workers were ferried to the offshore oil rigs.

The shrimp fishery and menhaden fish-ery employed the majority of the commercial fishermen. Although traditionally the Em-pire-Venice area had been a major area for commercial fishing, there were many newer fishing camps and lodges being built for rec-reational fishermen. There were several boat storage areas for recreational boats. Fishing tournaments were an important draw for rec-reational fishermen. The many swamps and bayous around the area provided key areas for recreational fishermen who were mostly from out of town.

The Empire-Venice area was a poor area overall. With the downturn of the shrimp in-dustry, many of the commercial fishermen

from the area were having difficulty making money in the shrimp fishery. There was a com-bination of small ice boats and large freezer boats that unloaded their catch at the shrimp docks there. According to some of the dock owners interviewed in 2004, several of the larger freezer boats from the area had been repossessed by the banks as fishermen could not longer make the payments. Even with the reduction in profits for shrimp fishery, in 2004 the docks were all very busy unloading shrimp. Most of the shrimp docks in the area were owned and operated by Vietnamese-Americans.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, there were also oyster docks that had several oyster boats a day unloading at their docks. The oysters were packed in the shell for shipping and sent to other locations to be shucked. There was a thriving blue crab business with fishermen who operated small, open johnboats empty-ing and rebaiting their traps several times a week. Like the oysters, the blue crabs were sent out of the area to be processed. There was one dock that also unloaded shark along with shrimp.

In 2004, there seemed to be an economic divide between the local fishermen and the fishermen who came from other places to par-ticipate in the recreational fisheries. In Venice, the city-owned marina where the commercial fishermen parked their boats was adjacent to one of the private marinas for recreational boats. At the recreational marina, there were many new, large, expensive sportfishing boats, while overall the commercial fishing boats looked run down and many were in need of repair and repainting. In talking to some of the owners of the commercial boats, they ex-plained that due to the reduction in profits in the shrimp fishery, they could no longer af-ford to keep their boats in top shape. Overall, in 2004, the area would have easily been clas-sified as an area of intensive fishing.

When Hurricane Katrina came ashore on 29 August 2005, the eye of the storm passed over the Empire-Venice area. The area had been under a mandatory evacuation order and most people had evacuated their homes and gone to places inland. In Empire, there


is a canal that runs between the Mississippi River and the bayous of the Gulf of Mexico. As a common practice, fishermen parked their boats behind the canal locks for protec-tion from hurricanes. During Katrina, they did not expect that the storm surge would be higher than the levees and the canal locks. The storm surge that was created covered the levees on both sides and flooded the com-munities as far north as Belle Chasse, 65 mi to the north of Venice. The storm surge was estimated at more than 25 ft high in some areas. The levees that had protected the communities along Highway 23 now held the water in like a giant bowl. According to locals interviewed, the last of the water did not drain for more than 40 d, damaging or destroying every house, business, school, and church in these communities.

Most of the boats that were moved behind the locks at Empire were damaged or destroyed as the storm surge came in. After the hurri-cane, hundreds of boats of all descriptions were sunk or partially submerged in the water-ways and bayous, sitting on top of levees and highways or stranded in the marshes (Figure 2). Boats that did not sink were heavily dam-aged as they came loose from their moorings and were tossed around like toys in a bathtub as the waters rose and the storm raged. Four of the boats, 165 ft in length, owned by the menhaden factory in Empire, were washed up on land, two of which landed in the middle of Highway 23. All of the 11 boats owned by the menhaden factory received some damage but were repairable and again working the bay-ous of the Gulf when the menhaden fishery opened in April 2006.

Figure 2. Sunken boats and tangled nets at the boat harbor in Buras, Louisiana. (Photograph by author, August 2006.)

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Many fishermen were not so lucky. A year after Katrina struck, some fishermen had not found their boats or had not been able to re-cover them from where they were submerged in the water, stranded in the marshes, or on dry land. In August 2006, there were about 15 boats, ranging in size from 30 to 80 ft in length, in a huge pile at the base of the bridge in Empire (Figure 3). Some were sal-vageable; others were not. We interviewed one fisherman who owned one of the boats in the pile, and he said his boat had not sus-tained too much damage to be repaired, but he could not afford to have it moved back into the water. Estimates of the cost to return a stranded boat to the water were between $20,000 and $80,000, depending on the size of the boat. Most of the boats in the area were uninsured, and even those that were insured did not have coverage to get the boats back into the water.

Finding people to interview in the Em-pire-Venice area in 2006 was challenging. We

conducted our research in August 2006, and many of the shrimp docks and packing houses had just opened in April and May of that year when the electricity was connected to many of the businesses in the area. Fishermen in-terviewed said that between 50% and 65% of the commercial fishing boats in the area had been destroyed by the hurricane. Some fisher-men with operable boats have been shrimp-ing in the local waters since a few months af-ter the storm. One shrimp house, located in Venice, reopened in October 2005, although they lost everything in the storm except for the concrete slab that was part of the dock. When it reopened, there was no electricity or running water. Ice trucks and fuel trucks were brought in to service the small boats that fished the bays and bayous nearby. Trucks also came into the area and picked up shrimp to be taken to other locations for packing and shipping. The Vietnamese-American own-ers of the shrimp house said they needed to start unloading shrimp to get back into busi-

Figure 3. One year after Hurricane Katrina came ashore in Empire, Louisiana, several fishing boats are still in pieces at the base of the Empire Bridge. (Photograph by author, August 2006.)


ness and to help out their shrimpers who had worked with them for many years.

Throughout the spring of 2006, the fish-ing industry in these communities worked to rebuild livelihoods and businesses. Boats were salvaged and rebuilt. Fishing infrastructure is slowly being repaired. Fishermen are trying to rebuild their lives. In August 2006, many were still trying to obtain a FEMA trailer to live in. Fishermen who had rented their place to live before the storm could not obtain a FEMA trailer because they had nowhere to put it. Others had given up on obtaining a FEMA trailer and were living with friends and fam-ily, unsure of what would happen next. Three people interviewed said that they had secured a FEMA trailer in a large trailer park with 500 trailers but soon moved out due to the number of people living there and the crime in the park. Also, the park is located several miles north of the Empire-Venice area. Some of the Vietnamese and Cambodians who did not have insured homes, or rented before the storm, were now living on their small boats in one of the small boat harbors in Buras. Two fishermen interviewed at the Buras boat har-bor said they were not currently using their boats for fishing because their whole family was living on the boats.

Locals had begun the process of tearing down or completely refurbishing their homes and businesses. Some members of the com-munity had not received money they thought they were due from insurance, while others had property that was not insured to begin with. As of August 2006, only two hotels were open for visitors, both located at the recre-ational marinas. The post office lay in ruins. There were no grocery stores for 65 mi, no churches, no schools, one gas station, and only a few restaurants. It was still unknown if the schools in the area would be rebuilt in time for school to open in September of 2006. The 20-mi stretch of road that encompasses this area was still fairly deserted. Here and there were signs of life, but recovery will be slow. As we conducted our research, we could see daily progress as large trucks hauled off trash, stacks of destroyed cars, and miscella-neous debris that lined the roadways.

Throughout the Empire-Venice area, there are also signs of progress for the recovery of the fishing industry. Most of the docks and packing houses are now operating, except for a few that do not plan to reopen. Of the five shrimp and fish dock owners interviewed, all reported that they had fewer boats unloading in 2006 than before the storm. We interviewed several fishermen who had already restored their boats and again were fishing in the areas around Empire-Venice. According to most of the fishermen interviewed, the shrimp season of 2006 had been very good. There were fewer boats working the waterways and people were catching an abundance of shrimp. When we asked fishermen why they thought they were catching more shrimp in 2006 than in recent years, they stated that there were less boats chas-ing the same amount of shrimp and also stated what they labeled the “Forrest Gump effect,” in which there appears to be more shrimp after the water is stirred up by a hurricane. Unfortu-nately, due to the low cost paid at the docks for shrimp, fishermen were not making any more money than they had the previous year, even though the volume was higher.

Many of the boats that had fished for oysters in the Empire-Venice were also de-stroyed. In August 2006, one of the oyster docks in Empire had reopened and a few oys-ter boats were again harvesting oysters. The oyster industry had been hit hard, as many of the oyster beds were covered in silt, which kills the oysters. People with private oyster beds were picking through what remained to harvest what they could. The oyster dock had only been open since May of 2006 and a few months later were still operating out of a building that did not have electricity and had damages from the hurricane that had not been repaired. As oyster fishermen brought in their sacks of oysters, oysters were loaded directly on to a refrigerated truck to be shipped out when the truck was full. The owner of the dock said that most of the oys-ters were being shipped out of state. He said he had lost some clients who had purchased his oysters in the past and was working hard to regain his clientele.

The dock owner also explained that a

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year after the storm, some of the buyers he had before the storm still had the perception that the oysters were tainted from pollution in the water after the storm, even though the water where they were harvesting oysters had been declared safe by the state of Louisiana. All of the oysters were being shipped out in the shell because there are no longer any oys-ter processing plants in the area. Bringing a fraction of the oyster fishermen back in busi-ness was helping the oyster dock as well the oyster fishermen to start to regain some of their business and income from the fishery. On one afternoon, we watched as six oyster boats unloaded their sacks of oysters. Each of the boats carried two to three people. As they unloaded, we were able to briefly talk to those who were willing. Several of the oyster fishermen said they would have been back in business sooner, but many had trouble secur-ing money to fix their boats. All six of the cap-tains interviewed said they had been turned down for loans to repair their boats by the

Small Business Administration (SBA), which aids businesses after a natural disaster.

In Venice, there is a blue crab dock that was very busy every afternoon as the local crab fishermen brought in the crabs they had col-lected that day from their traps (Figure 4). The crab boats are small, most being under 24 ft, and the owners had moved them from the wa-ter to their own properties before the storm. Because few had lost their crab boats, they were able to get back in to business within 9 months after Katrina. Most of the crab fishermen in-terviewed said they had replaced the outboard motors on their small boats after the hurricane and repaired any damage to the boats so they could return to crabbing. Crab fishermen in-terviewed said they had lost most or all of their crab traps and had been slowly buying new ones as they earned money. Like the oyster dock, the crab dock was directly loading the blue crabs into refrigerated trucks to be shipped out to other states because there were no longer any blue crab processors in the area.

Figure 4. Men loading blue crabs at a busy crab dock in Venice, Louisiana, 1 year after Hurricane Katrina struck. (Photograph by author, August 2006.)


Throughout the Empire-Venice area, we interviewed fishermen who were fixing their damaged boats or planning to buy another one. Some fishermen who lost their boats are fishing with other people or taking other jobs for now. Fishermen we interviewed who lost their boats say they plan to go back to fishing. Many of the fishermen in this area have fished their whole lives and it is all they know. Some of the Vietnamese and Cambodian fishermen do not have the language skills to perform other jobs, and many were fishermen in their own countries before coming here.

When fishermen in Empire-Venice were asked if the fishing industry will continue to play an important role in their community, most answered a resounding yes. Many are still hoping the local or federal government will help them, their communities, and their fishing industries with recovery. Even without much help from the government, they are slowly picking up the pieces and figuring out what they can do for themselves. Life, for now, is no longer about fishing and being on the water but is focused on the recovery of their boats, their fish houses, and their lives. Most plan to resume their life on the water.

Recovery Challenges for Both Areas

As the people in these coastal communi-ties of southern Louisiana struggle to recover, local and national news agencies continue to be fixated on what happened to New Orleans. During our interviews, it was not uncommon to hear people say that they felt abandoned by relief agencies, the media, and outsiders who did not know or fully understand the extent of the devastation in these small, fishing com-munities. Most blame the media for portray-ing the major loss as being in New Orleans, the main area that tourists from outside of the state would be familiar with. With so much media focus on New Orleans, there was a con-cern that relief resources were going to New Orleans first.

Miscommunication regarding relief ef-forts was also a major concern. During our

research, we heard from several people that they had tried for hours and days to contact FEMA, their insurance agents, or other av-enues of help, to no avail. A year after the hurricane, many people were still waiting for a promised FEMA trailer to be delivered. Most fishermen and owners of fishing-re-lated businesses that we interviewed report-ed being turned down by the SBA Disaster Loan Program. This program was initiated by Congress in 1953 to administer low-interest disaster loans to small businesses as well as homeowners, tenants, and nonprofit orga-nizations. According to our interviews, most fishermen and people in fishing dependent businesses were turned down by the SBA because they currently had no income or were trying to rebuild boats and businesses that they could not guarantee would make enough money to pay off the loans. Without incomes or loans, many fishermen were find-ing it challenging to pay for salvaging and repairing their boats.

In both Grand Isle and Empire-Venice, the people involved with the recreational fisheries appear to have money for needed re-pairs and rebuilding. In Venice the first hotel to reopen (in April 2006) is located at one of the two recreational marinas. The owners of the recreational marinas had the resources to rebuild and resume their recreational fishing tournaments, which were back up and run-ning by the summer of 2006. Concurrently, in Grand Isle, many of the fishing camps or sum-mer homes belonging to outsiders who come to the area seasonally to fish had already been rebuilt and were sporting shiny new metal roofs by August of 2006, while houses owned by locals were still being repaired; and many still had the ubiquitous blue tarps covering their roofs, which were provided by FEMA after the storm. In both communities, many full-time residents lacked insurance or lacked adequate insurance to cover the losses on their homes, boats, and businesses, which made rebuilding problematic. Through interviews, we could sense the unease that some locals had towards outsiders who had the money and resources to rebuild their businesses and second homes much sooner than many of the locals.

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A year after Hurricane Katrina, the Em-pire-Venice area was slowly being rebuilt. It was several months after Katrina had devastat-ed these communities before people started moving back, because there was no infrastruc-ture to make it possible to live there. As of Au-gust 2006, there was still no electricity in some sections of the Empire-Venice area. Many former residents still had not returned. The delivery of promised FEMA trailers has been slow, and many people still had nowhere to live. There were no schools for the children, making it difficult for families to return. How-ever, April 2006 seems to be a turning point for the community because, according to some, that is when the electricity was restored to some neighborhoods. This has allowed some people to move back on their property and, for some, to secure a FEMA trailer. With electricity and running water, businesses can reopen and progress can be made.

In both areas in the study, fishermen and fishing related businesses are returning. The question now is whether the struggling fishing industry can provide enough income for people to rebuild their communities and livelihoods. The shrimp industry was already in trouble before the hurricanes ravaged the Gulf in 2005. Fishermen will continue to get out of the business and find other ways to earn a living, although finding other employ-ment is difficult for many fishermen. Many of the fishermen in these communities are more than 50 years old and did not complete high school. Some dropped out of school at a very early age to work on their parents’ fish-ing boats and admit that they are barely liter-ate. Others lack experience with other types of work. Although the oil and natural gas industries continue to play a key role in the economy of the state, some fishermen say it is harder to find jobs in the oil industry than it used to be.

Some will stay in the communities where they lived before the storms while others will choose to move to other locations in search of jobs. For those that stay, each hurricane sea-son will bring with it a chance that their com-munities could once again be damaged by a major storm. Many fishermen explained to us

that they were the last generation in their fam-ily to work the waterways. Some say they would move but have no other options for employ-ment. Most fishermen said they did not want their children to follow in their footsteps and were encouraging them to get an education to enable them to do other types of work. How-ever, for many of the weathered fishermen in these communities, there is no place they would rather be than on the water. In the case of the Gulf of Mexico, many communities are located only a few feet above sea level, which creates an uncertain future as they hope that it will be years before the next big one hits.

It continues to be difficult to bring peo-ple back where there are no jobs or to oper-ate businesses without enough workers. Lack of housing keeps people away or leaves them with a long commute from other areas farther north. The commercial and recreational fish-ing industries are providing opportunities for some people to make money as they rebuild their lives. As more housing is restored and more businesses and schools open, it will be easier for people to return. However, some may not return and will start a new life in other places. Others will return but fear the next round of hurricanes. Every day, there are small victories for those trying to recover, but it will be years before Empire-Venice will re-semble the community that existed before the storm. Grand Isle is recovering faster, due in part because they had less destruction from the storm, and community members were able to return to the community and start re-building almost immediately after the storm. Recovery efforts in both areas will continue for several more years. More research will be conducted by the author in both of these fish-ing communities in 2008 to continue a longi-tudinal study on the impacts of the hurricane and recovery efforts.

Lessons Learned for Conducting Anthropological Research after a

Natural DisasterSome scientists support the global warm-

ing theory and predict that the earth will con-


tinue to heat up creating hurricanes that will be more powerful and more frequent than they were in the last century. If the earth is in-deed undergoing global warming, fishing com-munities throughout the Gulf of Mexico may be in increased jeopardy. More intensive and possibly more frequent hurricanes, coupled with rising sea levels, would put many low-lying coastal communities along the Gulf of Mexico, and elsewhere, at greater risk if a hurricane does strike: a natural setting for disaster.

Hurricanes cannot be stopped. However, if there is baseline data on fishing communi-ties prior to a disaster, then fisheries managers can be better prepared to make estimates on what was lost. Understanding the dependency that individual communities have on the fish-ing industry can help us mitigate the recovery efforts and the process for rebuilding commu-nities and fisheries that were impacted after the next disaster. Humans are a major compo-nent of the fishing industries. Although it is common to analyze the physical and biological environment after a natural disaster, it is also of critical importance to talk to the individu-als who are involved with the fishing industry in the impacted areas. Because the MSA, NS8 requires that federal fishery managers con-sider the social impacts of federal regulations on the fishermen and the communities that depend on fishing when writing new regula-tions, it is important to continue to collect in-formation on communities along the Gulf of Mexico that are heavily involved with fishing. Part of this understanding includes studying the impacts of natural disasters such as Hurri-cane Katrina on affected fishing communities as well as how these fishing communities re-spond in the aftermath of the hurricane and the challenges for rebuilding.

The use of secondary data, such as land-ings and permits data, can serve as a starting point when trying to describe fishing commu-nities but may not fully describe a communi-ty’s dependency of the fishing industry. After a disaster such as Katrina, secondary data can be even more unreliable for fully describing fishing communities and their involvement in fishing. After Katrina, fishing effort shifted from areas that received the most damage to

other areas. This skewed the landings data. One year after Hurricane Katrina struck, land-ings of shrimp and finfish in the Gulf were coming back up to levels equal to or greater than those before the storm. An analysis of sec-ondary data such as landings data, aggregated at the state level, suggested that the fisheries were recovering well, and one could almost assume that fishermen and fishing communi-ties were also recovering well. As we learned from our interviews, this was not the case in the communities of Empire-Venice, which were just beginning to show signs of recovery. After a disaster, it is important to collect em-pirical data if possible and visit communities that were impacted to better understand their recovery efforts and challenges ahead.

Much can be learned from going to the communities directly and observing the land-scape and the challenges for rebuilding as well as talking to the people affected by the di-saster. Based on our experience, one-on-one ethnographic interviews proved to be the best way to collect information from the fishermen and those dependent on the fishing industry, especially because we did not know fully what to expect as we approached each community after the disaster. In talking to the people af-fected by the disaster in their own communi-ties, we gained an insider’s perspective and a better understanding of what it will take to rebuild fishing communities and the fishing industry. By showing up and asking people to talk to us in an unscripted manner, we found out much more information than we would have solicited from a survey. Overall, people were very willing to talk to us about their expe-riences and the challenges that lay ahead.

Fishermen and those who work in fishing dependent businesses in the Gulf of Mexico live in areas that are extremely vulnerable to hurricanes. There is no way to completely protect communities in low-lying areas from a powerful hurricane such as Katrina. However, if we have a better understanding about the hurricane’s impact on communities and the fishing industries, we can use this information next time to facilitate the recovery of the com-munities and the fishing industries. By study-ing individual communities, we can discover

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people’s motivations for returning to these areas and have a better knowledge of the help they will need to recover their livelihoods, based on extraction of marine resources. Also, by studying these communities that were affected by Hurricane Katrina, we will learn lessons for the future that will give us insights as to how humans are dependent on the natu-ral resource base, how they interact with their environment, and choices they may make the next time their communities are threatened by a powerful hurricane.

More research needs to be done through-out fishing communities in the Gulf of Mexi-co so that we have a better understanding of each community’s dependency on the fishing industry. It was fortuitous that we had collect-ed baseline data in each of these areas a year before Hurricane Katrina struck so that we had a better understanding of what was lost to the storm. This gave us a base to work from as we conducted our ethnographic interviews.

Throughout the United States, people continue to move to the coasts. Populations are increasing in areas that are vulnerable to environmental catastrophe as erosion and land degradation continue in coastal areas. Fishermen in these communities cite lack of education and/or language barriers that keep them from getting other jobs in less vulner-able areas, even if they were so inclined. More houses and businesses are being built on what were once sand dunes of barrier islands, of-ten leveling land to near sea level and destroy-ing the barriers that once protected inland locations. This type of development adds to land degradation and destruction of barrier islands, but also adds millions of dollars to the tax base of coastal communities. The process will not be stopped, and more people will con-tinue to move to environmentally vulnerable areas.

After a major hurricane strikes, the im-pacts on individual communities can vary drastically, even a year later. We do not yet know the full extent of the effects of Hurri-cane Katrina on fishing communities in the Gulf of Mexico. What we do know is that the communities of Grand Isle and Empire-Ven-ice are heavily dependent on the recreational

and commercial fishing industries, and it is important to the livelihoods of their members that their fisheries are restored.

As development and gentrification in-crease in coastal communities, it becomes more difficult for fishermen and businesses that depend on fisheries to stay near the water. Each year, more dock space for commercial fishing vessels disappears. Taxes on waterfront land continue to increase, displacing fisher-men and fishing infrastructure. Competition over land and environmental degradation of coastal and marine resources add to the woes of the fishermen trying to survive in the fish-ing industry. More anthropological research needs to be done in the fishing communities that remain throughout the United States so that the accelerating forces of gentrification, which are spurring change in fishing commu-nities, can be understood against a backdrop of a cultural heritage founded on fishing in coastal communities. In order to initiate new fishing regulations, it is important to under-stand the dependency individual communi-ties have on the fishing industry, the fishing heritage of the community, and opportunities for employment outside of the fishing indus-try. This can be understood best by talking to the stakeholders to better understand the hu-man environment.

Questions will remain concerning re-building efforts. Should areas be rebuilt, and if so, to what degree, and who should pay? Do states want to facilitate people who continue to live in vulnerable areas so they have access to the abundant marine resources? As shown in this paper, the fishing industry, the oil and gas industry, the ports of New Orleans, and other major businesses depend on these areas to provide a physical location for people to live and work. In many cases, levees offer the only protection from surrounding bodies of water for low-lying areas. Rebuilding efforts, once undertaken, should evaluate the dam-age done by this hurricane, and rebuilding should be planned in a way that mitigates the same destruction the next time a major hurri-cane hits this area. In both Grand Isle and the Empire-Venice area, businesses and homes are being rebuilt on stilts and platforms. Will


this be enough to keep them out of the range of a future storm surge?

Most fishermen and community mem-bers interviewed acknowledged that they live in an environmentally vulnerable area, and as the hurricane season approaches each year, they face the risk of being impacted by a hur-ricane. People in these communities balance the potential risk of living in a low-lying area prone to destruction by hurricanes against the benefits of living in an area that provides abundant marine resources within close prox-imity. As Oliver-Smith points out, “A disaster is made inevitable by the historically produced pattern of vulnerability, evidenced in loca-tion, infrastructure, sociopolitical structure, production patterns, and ideology, that char-acterizes a society” (Oliver-Smith 1999:29).

Federal and state agencies that manage fisheries and protect the environment seem to concentrate on the physical and biological environments first after a disaster and the hu-man environment almost as an afterthought. After a disaster, it is important to talk to the stakeholders who use the resources. Through ethnographic interviews, we collected much information and many individual stories of loss and survival and of plans for the future. By talking to the people affected by the disas-ter, maybe we can learn from their experienc-es in order to better prepare communities for the next major hurricane.

ConclusionsThe study described in this paper high-

lights two areas of Louisiana that are depen-dent on the fishing industry and that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Louisiana is one of the top fishing areas in the United States. The volume of all marine resources harvested in the waters of Louisiana is sec-ond only to Alaska. The wetlands of southern Louisiana constitute the largest wetland area in the United States, teeming with aquatic life and offering nursery areas to many species. Yet, year after year this area is under increas-ing threat that a major hurricane will destroy bayou communities. Despite preservation and restoration efforts, the wetlands, marshes,

and barrier islands that may offer protection to communities in the event of another hur-ricane continue to erode away, due in part to alterations to the landscape by humans. The rate of loss of the southern Louisiana’s delta accelerates each year. As rebuilding efforts are undertaken, the time is now to chart a course that will preserve the wetlands and protect the barrier islands from further erosion so that southern Louisiana will continue to provide a breeding ground for aquatic species and pro-vide enough dry land to continue to sustain communities located in these outer reaches of the delta.

Fishermen and those who work in fishing-dependent businesses in these communities are doing everything they can to re-establish a degree of normalcy and to rebuild their lives and their businesses. Many are still wait-ing on insurance claims or help from the gov-ernment to get back on their feet. However, in both communities, recreational and com-mercial fishing infrastructure is being rebuilt and fishing boats are returning to the water. Even though Grand Isle and Empire-Venice were severely impacted by Hurricane Katrina, many members of both communities think their communities will recover and the fish-ing industry will continue to play a major role in the future.

Grand Isle received less overall damage than the Empire-Venice area, and this was one reason the community has been able to move towards recovery at a faster pace. One key to Grand Isle’s recovery seems to be the resiliency of the community members who have weathered severe storms before and worked together to rebuild their community afterwards. Some locals of Grand Isle said that within another year, it would be difficult to tell that the community had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and the island was going to look better than before. Residents may con-tinue to resent outsiders with money, many of whom had their businesses and vacation homes rebuilt while locals were still trying to find a way to fund their rebuilding. In some ways, it is an uneasy alliance, but many of the businesses on the island depend on the tour-ism trade.

166 Ingles

In contrast, for the fishing communities of the Empire-Venice area, recovery is much slower and progress not as evident. Unlike Grand Isle where people in the community returned and started clean-up almost im-mediately after the storm, the people of Em-pire-Venice could not return to their com-munity until months later. Electricity was not available until 8 months after the storm. Additionally, unlike Grand Isle where there is much social cohesion due in part to the shared Cajun ancestry of most of the resi-dents, Empire-Venice appears to be an area that is somewhat divided by race and ethnic-ity as more people of Asian descent moved into the area over the past 20 years. One Viet-namese fisherman explained that Asians who speak little English had stayed within their own enclaves and they may not feel a sense of belonging to the community at large. As a re-sult, they often rely heavily on their extended networks within the Asian community, which has been fractured as people were displaced to other states. As a result, it may be more difficult for community members divided by language and ethnicity to come together for rebuilding efforts.

Based on interviews conducted for this study, it appears that many of the displaced fishermen plan to return to the water and people displaced from fishing-related busi-nesses plan to return to the fishing industry. Others may decide not to get back into fishing or not to rebuild their businesses. Both of the areas in this study rely heavily on the shrimp fishery. If most of the shrimpers of the Em-pire-Venice area salvage or rebuild their boats that were lost, the shrimp industry may still be overcapitalized and it will continue to be difficult for fishermen to make a reasonable profit from harvesting shrimp. Many who live in these communities know the risks of living there but would not want to live any where else. For them, fishing is their life and they will continue to depend on the fishing industry to support them as they rebuild their communi-ties and recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. All are hoping the hur-ricanes of the next season will not destroy the progress they have made.

This research suggests that further stud-ies need to be done throughout the Gulf of Mexico in communities that depend on the fishing industry. Studies need to be launched that target the human environment as well as the physical and biological environments. The use of ethnographic interviews gave us an opportunity to learn first hand, from the indi-viduals directly affected, how people in these communities survived the hurricane and chal-lenges they face in years to come as they work towards a better future. It also gave us a better understanding of the importance of the fish-ing industries and why the rebuilding of the commercial and recreational fisheries may be a key to recovery for these communities. Understanding what happened to these fish-ing communities when Hurricane Katrina hit, and the sociocultural process that people are going through to recover, may help to miti-gate the impacts and aid in recovery efforts in the future when another hurricane of this destructive level hits fishing communities in the Gulf of Mexico.

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