Gulf fishermen aren’t ready to ditch BP

Reporting from Venice, La. — 

The black stuff is no longer spewing from the busted well head and state fishing restrictions have been lifted in most coastal waters, but many of the commercial fishermen hired by BP to help clean up the oil spill are in no rush to return to their regular jobs.

To hear them tell it, steady bimonthly paychecks from BP trump the financial risks of servicing an industry plagued by lingering doubts about the safety of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. Beyond that, with tar balls and oil slicks getting harder to find, the cleanup work has become a lot easier.

As difficult as it was deploying boom and skimming oil under hot, thundery skies earlier this summer, the captains and deck hands employed by BP’s “vessels of opportunity” program haven’t seen a big slick in several days.

Why go back to trawling for seafood now?

“Shrimping is a gamble, but this is a sure thing and the money’s about the same as what I was making before the oil spill,” said Ted Portier, 63, who has been harvesting shrimp and crabs off the coast of southeastern Louisiana for 37 years.

“We could pack up and leave BP, but do the math,” added Portier, a stout man with silver hair and beard who currently works on a skimming boat for BP. “Each trip out in our boat to get shrimp requires about $9,000 worth of fuel and about $1,500 for ice, groceries and a crew of three — that’s a big investment before you make a penny.”

With BP, contractors can earn as much as $2,000 a day. A shrimper or crabber can exceed that amount on good days, but sometimes, if the prey is elusive, come up with nothing.

Fishermen can also file damage claims with BP, which to date has paid out $300 million in compensation claims, but some find the process cumbersome and too slow. They would prefer a paycheck.

Southeastern Louisiana’s white shrimp season is just three weeks away. It is the time of year when local marinas should be filled with the sights and sounds of commercial fishermen mending nets, welding scaffolding, replacing old rigging, assembling crews and touching up vintage vessels with fresh paint.

But as so often happened with the Deepwater Horizon disaster, uncertainty prevails. Fishermen wonder if worried consumers will shun gulf seafood out fear its contaminated. And what would happen, they ask, if catches fall below the norm or unexpected problems arise?

“Before they make a commitment, our crabbers and shrimp harvesters will need to know that conditions are right,” said Robert Barham, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. “Many will also have to decide whether to give up their current jobs in the BP vessels of opportunity oil cleanup program.”

BP spokesman Mark Proegler said that on July 20, an especially busy day for the program, 2,484 vessels were operating throughout the gulf to work as skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery boats to assist in containment and cleanup efforts.

On Friday, BP announced that it was cutting back on the program, decommissioning skimmer boats and changing its larger mission to retrieval of most of the 11 million feet of hard and absorbent boom deployed across gulf waters. There were 1,535 active vessels in the program Friday.

To encourage fisherman to transition from cleanup back to fishing, the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board is calling on BP to fund an “incentive program that would pay commercial fishermen 30% more per catch than they would get in local seafood markets,” said Randy Pausina, a spokesman for the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. “The proposal would help seafood processors and dealers who are nothing without fishermen.”

Added Pausina: “BP is responsive, but has not made a commitment yet.”

In a separate effort to boost consumer confidence and kick-start the commercial fishing industry, Louisiana officials led by Gov. Bobby Jindal have demanded that BP fund a long-term seafood safety, marketing and certification plan that would include testing 400 samplings of shrimp, crab, oysters and fish each month in all coastal parishes.

Some fisherman are already back at the work they know best, partly because they couldn’t snag a position with BP.

Kong Duong, 54, a shrimper of 25 years, removed the heavy steel scaffolding and nets from his trawler months ago in hopes of hiring on with BP.

“But BP still hasn’t called me,” he said, shaking his head in frustration and anger. On Wednesday morning, Duong made a tough decision.

“I can’t wait any longer,” he said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “I’m putting the nets back up on my boat and I’m going shrimping. There may not even be a market for my shrimp. But what else can I do?”

Eric Tiser, 47, a portly, sunburned and tough-talking shrimper with a bad back and a chip on his shoulder about BP not offering him a cleanup job, is among the handful of commercial fishermen actively trawling Plaquemines Parish waters these days.

Tiser’s most recent trip out was cut short by an electrical fire on board his weathered 30-foot black-and-white vessel. Over the last three months, Tiser has received compensation checks from BP totaling $11,000, but he’d rather be working as a vessel of opportunity.

“I’m broke, I’m going under and all I’m catching is a heart attack,” he said, stepping off his boat and onto a loading dock. “I’ve been trying to get on with BP since Day 1. But they won’t take me.”

Tiser, who has been the focus of numerous magazine and television features about bayou life, had problems of a different kind this week. “National Geographic Magazine is flying me out to a big Hollywood party in celebration of their coverage of the oil spill,” he said. “I have to borrow $500 from relatives to buy some decent clothes.”

Perry Barthe, 43, captain of the 63-foot trawler Die Hard, sympathized. His boat has been used to corral oil with a boom so the crude can be burned at sea.

“Do I wish this oil spill never happened? Yes, of course,” Barthe said. “But BP is going out of its way to make us happy. We haven’t found any oil to burn in quite a while, but BP still pays for everything — gas, food, the crew, and our pay.

“So I feel sorry for the commercial fishermen who didn’t get BP cleanup jobs; my heart goes out to them.”

It’s not just commercial fishermen. Charter boat operators who normally cater to sport fishermen and bird watchers are also trying to hang on to their BP jobs for as long as possible.

“As a fishing guide, I make about $600 to $700 a day,” said David Legnon, who owns a sleek, white 18-foot fishing boat. “With BP, I get roughly $1,500 a day, with all expenses paid.”

“So I’ve got a special message for clients wondering whether or not it’s safe to fish down here,” he said with a laugh. “It’s this: They finally killed the beast and the water’s fine, so come on down for the best fishing in the world — but if BP calls me with a job offer, we may have to reschedule.”

louis.sahagun@latimes.com