The aftermath of Hurricane Ike was so devastating that the recovery might take two years. And so on the eve of October’s peak seafood harvesting season, migrant fishermen are sweeping debris from gutted bay-side homes instead of scooping shrimp and oysters from the Gulf of Mexico’s lucrative floor. The $100-million fishing industry in Galveston Bay is nearly paralyzed.
According to news agency reports hurricane Ike’s effect is being felt among gulf seafood harvesters, distributors and restaurants. Government and industry officials estimated that it will take as long as two years for the processing plants, boats and docks along the bay to recover and rebuild. Lisa Halili, owner of Prestige Oysters Inc. said that the it’s like a bomb went off. The company is among the largest seafood harvesters in Texas and Louisiana but now facing hard time for its business.
It is fact that Hurricanes Ike and Gustav hit the region’s fishermen hard, causing the industry to lose an estimated $300 million in Louisiana alone. The storms left behind debris in waterways, broke docks and smashed boats. The effect of storm was so strong that it killed hundreds of acres of oyster reefs with waves of saltwater and suffocated others with grass clawed from the shore and washed into the gulf.
