David Barrios began his fitful, start-stop career in commercial fishing, and has spent much of his career equipping boats with nets and repairing the vessels after increasingly worse storms. After that he stopped trawling after the 2005 hurricanes, when a telephone pole speared a pontoon on his boat. Combined with other fishing costs, it was enough to force him to finally move on.
Barrios blames high fuel costs and low shrimp prices for his decision but he also says hurricanes seem to become an increasing threat to fishermen as coastal land loss worsens. According to him small but noticeable changes in shrimp catches links to land loss are also becoming apparent. He told that the situation looks like the land is just floating away. It’s not just after a hurricane. He further said that it can be a hard rain or the tide coming up. The land is changing every day.
Experts said that shrimpers are most intimately aware of changes in landscape by wetland loss. They believe that the land loss could soon bring a sharp decline in shrimp populations and, some believe, their eventual end. Martin Bourgeois, a marine fisheries biologist with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, explained that the wetlands are habitats to shrimp at critical points in their lives.
He also said that without them, shrimp are exposed to predators early in their development. He confirmed that habitat loss is the single biggest loss to the fishery. It is said with wetlands steadily breaking up and allowing saltwater to intrude, the decline in the number shrimp fishermen catch in a season is expected to decline in coming years. Shrimpers can expect a sharp decrease as wetlands deteriorate and part of their habitat is destroyed.
