{"id":6702,"date":"2010-07-23T17:18:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-23T21:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/?p=6702"},"modified":"2013-05-10T15:20:32","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T19:20:32","slug":"july-23-2010-fishermen-of-the-gulf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2010\/07\/23\/july-23-2010-fishermen-of-the-gulf\/6702\/","title":{"rendered":" Fishermen of the Gulf"},"content":{"rendered":"
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KIM LAWTON<\/strong>, correspondent: It\u2019s sunrise over Louisiana bayou country. Normally, this is when the fishermen here set out in search of shrimp and oysters and crabs. But things aren\u2019t anywhere near normal. Instead of fishing, these men have been hired by BP to look for spreading oil, to document damaged wildlife, and to assist in the cleanup. There\u2019s a safety briefing before they head out, and Pastor John Dee Jeffries opens the meeting with prayer.<\/p>\n

REV. JOHN DEE JEFFRIES<\/strong>, First Baptist Church, Chalmette, LA (praying): Father God in Heaven, I pray that you will watch over these men, these women. Protect them today.<\/p>\n

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\"post01-fishermen\"
\nRev. John Dee Jeffries<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

LAWTON<\/strong>: Jeffries is pastor of the Chalmette First Baptist Church. He\u2019s one of several local ministers who have been coming out to the docks every day to support the fishermen.<\/p>\n

JEFFRIES<\/strong>: Can\u2019t solve all of the world\u2019s problems, but sometimes just knowing that there\u2019s someone who\u2019s there who cares is more than sufficient.<\/p>\n

LAWTON<\/strong>: Jeffries is concerned that despair is growing across the entire area.<\/p>\n

JEFFRIES<\/strong>: Basically what I hear is a lament, a sorrow, because of what was and what now is. It seems to me to be too meager a choice of words to simply say that a lifestyle is at stake here. It is the entire context of a person’s life, the whole backdrop, the fabric, that is being torn asunder by this crisis.<\/p>\n

LAWTON<\/strong>: So much in these communities revolves around the seafood industry, and that has been thrown into turmoil, from boat captains who can\u2019t fish and therefore can\u2019t hire deckhands to the mechanics who aren\u2019t being hired to do repairs and the small businesses that aren\u2019t selling supplies. According to US government figures, more than 6,000 vessels and 40,000 people have been brought in to help clean up the oil and deal with the crisis. But many in the fishing industry say they haven\u2019t been able to get replacement work, and they don\u2019t know when they\u2019ll be able to resume their livelihoods.<\/p>\n

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\"post02-fishermen\"
\nByron Encalade<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

BYRON ENCALADE<\/strong>, Louisiana Oystermen\u2019s Association (speaking at meeting): And I know this is not going to end in one or two weeks, one or two months. May not even be one or two years…<\/p>\n

LAWTON<\/strong>: Byron Encalade is president of the Louisiana Oystermen\u2019s Association. He\u2019s become a vocal advocate for the poorest fishermen, especially in remote bayous.<\/p>\n

ENCALADE<\/strong>: Why must I always have to go through loops to get you to do the right thing toward my people?<\/p>\n

LAWTON<\/strong>: He says after Hurricane Katrina, it was contractors and large, politically connected organizations that received most of the government grants and outside aid. He worries about the same injustices this time.<\/p>\n

ENCALADE<\/strong>: If it takes every ounce of my breath, it\u2019s coming out, the truth is coming out. And you\u2019re not going to sit up here and hoodwink the system and think that you\u2019re going to go around and pay your big salaries and all that to the people that works inside your organization and these poor people are suffering.<\/p>\n

LAWTON<\/strong>: Many fishermen are having trouble filling out the complicated forms to get compensation from BP, or they don\u2019t have adequate receipts to document their loss of income. People like Errol Battle are falling through the cracks. Battle is a deckhand on oyster boats. He lost everything in Katrina and has been living paycheck to paycheck. Since the oil spill, the boats he works on haven\u2019t been leaving the dock.<\/p>\n

ERROL BATTLE<\/strong>, oyster boat deckhand: It really hurts. The oil spill came. It really punished us. It really did.<\/p>\n

\"post03-fishermen\"LAWTON<\/strong>: Local faith-based groups have been trying to do what they can to help. Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New Orleans has set up relief centers in churches around the region. At Saint Anthony\u2019s in the fishing village of LaFitte, people packed in the church hall to receive bags of food and gift cards for groceries. Case managers helped people fill out BP claims and apply for government aid. A crisis counselor mingled in the crowd, offering emotional support and referrals for more intensive counseling services. And there were activities to help the children focus on something other than the oil spill. At this center, there was also specific help for the Vietnamese American community, which makes up more than 30 percent of the Gulf Coast fishing industry.<\/p>\n

MARGARET DUBUISSON<\/strong>, Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans: Those Vietnamese immigrants are a very independent group of people. Their culture is intact. I mean if you go out to certain sections of New Orleans East you\u2019ll see entire neighborhoods where all the signage is in Vietnamese. For them to negotiate with the BP claims process, and food stamps, and a lot of forms that are only in English, and a lot of websites that are only in English, it\u2019s very difficult.<\/p>\n

LAWTON<\/strong>: In May, BP gave $1 million to Catholic Charities and the Second Harvest Food Bank, but that money has now been spent, and other potential donors seem to be holding back.<\/p>\n

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\"post04-fishermen\"
\nMargaret Dubuisson<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

DUBUISSON<\/strong>: One of the kind of astounding things that we\u2019ve been hearing is that this is a BP problem and BP should pick up the tab. And you know we\u2019re not here to assign blame, we\u2019re just here to help people.<\/p>\n

LAWTON<\/strong>: New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond has been visiting some of the hardest hit fishing communities, sometimes traveling by helicopter to get to the more remote places. On this Sunday, he visited Lafitte.<\/p>\n

ARCHBISHOP GREGORY AYMOND<\/strong>, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans: Personally I wanted to be with them in solidarity, and also as the archbishop and their shepherd to reassure them that in times of challenge and difficulty God never abandons us.<\/p>\n

LAWTON<\/strong>: Virtually everyone here at St. Anthony\u2019s has been affected by the oil spill. And the archbishop says the situation has been especially difficult coming on the heels of Katrina.<\/p>\n

AYMOND<\/strong>: What has happened through this is that all of the wounds and the fears and the discouragement, and the intensity of Katrina has reopened. I can see it on people\u2019s faces, I can hear it when they talk. There is definitely post-traumatic stress, which has not yet been fully dealt with. And then this tragedy on top of that just reopens all of that stress.<\/p>\n

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\nArchbishop Gregory Aymond<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

LAWTON<\/strong>: Still, he says he\u2019s been encouraged by the strength of faith that he\u2019s seen.<\/p>\n

AYMOND<\/strong>: They are an amazing people. They are resilient. They get discouraged, but they don\u2019t give up. They become puzzled and questioning of God, as we all would in circumstances like this, but they are people of faith.<\/p>\n

LAWTON<\/strong>: St. Anthony\u2019s parishioner Tilden Perez, Jr. says he still trusts God, even though he and his entire family have been devastated financially. Perez says his life, past, present and future, is tied to the bayou.<\/p>\n

TILDEN PEREZ, JR.<\/strong>, commercial fisherman: I\u2019m born and raised here. My people build boats all their lives. My people come from Canary Islands in Spain, which you know is how we got here in the first place. Because it\u2019s Spanish boats that brought the people here in the first place.<\/p>\n

LAWTON<\/strong>: Perez is a commercial fisherman, but he hasn\u2019t been able to get work since the oil spill.<\/p>\n

PEREZ<\/strong>: On a regular day, none of these boats would be here. Mostly everybody would be working. I\u2019d love to be in the bayou. I want to be in the bayou, and I can\u2019t be in the bayou.<\/p>\n

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