For a few afternoons last week, life seemed almost normal in Plaquemines Parish, La., a hub of fishing industry where the Mississippi meets the Gulf of Mexico. At the annual seafood festival in Belle Chasse, people lined up for rides and sandbagging contests. Piles of crawfish cost $6, a dozen oysters $12. A Seafood Queen was crowned.
But the reality of the oil spill was never far away. “Dredge Baby Dredge” T-shirts were scattered throughout the crowd, and there was a lot of talk about whose business was how close to the edge. John Tesvich, whose company, AmeriPure Oysters, had a booth at the festival, has seen a 50 percent drop in output since the Deepwater Horizon spill imposed rolling closures on gulf waters. The fourth-generation oyster harvester said there is a chance his business will be wiped out, depending on “which way the oil blows.”
Much of the talk was about what people — shrimpers, offshore oil workers, dock owners, charter boat operators — could do to survive. To stave off collapse, they say they have only two options: apply to the Small Business Administration for a disaster loan, or file claims with BP. Neither does much more than buy a little time.
Read the complete story at The New York Times.