The discussion on the aid is slated to begin this week and it will be the first direct aid specifically targeted to fishers in the three years since Hurricane Katrina decimated the industry. It is said that the qualified applicants are more than 8,000 but the individual payouts will be spread thinly across the industry that took the first lashing from the storms. The state’s fishing infrastructure took a $500 million hit after the storm, and many in the industry are miffed by the slow pace of government aid to one of the state’s iconic professions.
George Barisich, president of the United Commercial Fisherman’s Association, informed that it is good to contrast the loss in comparison with the money the association is going to get. The association was closely involved in developing the program with the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. It is said that the money will be doled out to individual licensed fishers and seafood dealers based on the amount of seafood they brought to shore in the year before Katrina, as reported through a trip ticket system with Wildlife and Fisheries.
It is told that each sector of the industry namely, shrimp, crab, oyster, crawfish, menhaden, finfish and seafood dealers, will receive varying payments based on how much they contributed to the overall value of the state’s seafood industry. According to the department the fishers are divided into categories based on their share of the catch. Every fisher gets at least $50, and each would get higher payments depending on their pre-storm haul: anywhere from an additional $250 to more than $4,000.
Jim Hanifen, assistant administrator with the department’s marine fisheries division, told that the $27 million is totally inadequate for the purposes of making anybody whole. It is difficult to deal the fishing industry with such meager amount of aid, says Jim.
