COCODRIE, La. (WVUE) – Seafood industry business owners and workers in Terrebonne Parish say they are anxious about the effects of a recent oil leak.
Oil leaked from the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) facility near Port Fourchon on Feb. 26. Weeks later, people whose livelihoods revolve around seafood in Terrebonne Parish are concerned.
“We specialize in all kinds of shrimp: Dry shrimp, fresh shrimp,” said Angela Portier of Faith Family Shrimp Company in Cocodrie. “I just think it’s going to be tough. Tough for everyone in our community, just with the uncertainty of the economic impact at this time. Just the uncertainty is scary.”
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announced Tuesday night that, “out of an abundance of caution,” it was closing six oyster harvesting areas in Basin 12 “due to reports of oil sheen in these areas and the heightened marine traffic associated with cleanup operations” from the spill.
The notice added, “Reopening of these shellfish harvest areas will be conducted as soon as it is determined that environmental conditions are within the requirements specified by the National Shellfish Sanitation Program.”
Terrebonne Parish Council member Kim Chauvin and her husband have several seafood businesses.
“We have docks and processing facilities in the shrimp industry,” she said. “And also a shipyard. And we have an ice house — a couple ice houses — and supply shops. So, we’re, like, inundated in the seafood industry. I mean, this is our business for 40 years that we’ve been at.”
She said she and her husband have David Chauvin’s Seafood Company, Bluewater Shrimp Company and Huey Ice in Dulac. And they own Kim Chauvin’s Seafood on nearby Grand Isle.
Chauvin says information about the spill has been hard to come by.
“I would have thought, from what happened with BP (British Petroleum’s costly Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010), that they would have it more together. And that is not what I’m finding out. There’s a huge communications gap,” she said.
Chauvin and Portier said they fear consumers will shun local seafood because of this spill.
“What happens is that a lot of your seafood is caught in August-December, and it is frozen and then it is sold at that point. So it is, when it comes to shrimp, that is safe on those fronts,” Chauvin said.
Portier said, “Yes, we do have that fear at this point. I know anything that goes on the market will be tested to make sure it’s all good. But lots of cleaning is going on here in the Cocodrie area. With the help of local businesses in the Cocodrie area here, we are hoping everything gets cleaned up quickly and effectively.”
Chauvin said she thinks state agencies should do more.
“What needs to happen is that LDH (Louisiana Department of Health) and Wildlife and Fisheries need to get together to figure out what’s going to happen with the facilities … where the oil is and what they need to do for the ‘now’ part of it,” Chauvin said.
A spokesman for LOOP says the updated estimate of released crude oil is 750 barrels, or 31,500 gallons. He says the source of the leak was secured immediately. He attributed the cause of the spill to a material failure within a section of a cargo transfer hose, which has since been replaced.
In terms of wildlife impacts, soon after the spill the U.S. Coast Guard said 17 oiled birds had been reported. The USCG said Tuesday night that an estimated 655 barrels of spilled oil have been recovered and that approximately 667 responders manning 114 vessels are engaged in cleanup activities. About 29.5 miles of protective and collection boom has been deployed so far.
Besides seafood suppliers, many others in the area count on the seafood industry.
“It starts with the fishermen, but it doesn’t stop just at the seafood dock,” Chauvin said. “There is more to this picture, because you have food trucks, you have seafood markets, you have restaurants. You have to let them know what’s going on.”
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