Shrimpers on Opening Day: “We caught 12 shrimp”, “Nothing at all” — “Generations of shrimping … DONE”

When reporter Dahr Jamail left the docks of Fouchon, Louisiana on August 16, the first day of the ‘reopening’ of shrimp season, he encountered shrimpers returning home.

Jamail reports:

Just after leaving the boat launch, we pass a shrimper coming back in.

“How did you do out there?” Craig [a charter fishing captain and guide] asks him. “Nothing. Nothing at all,” the despondent fisherman replies. “How much do you usually catch?” Craig asks. “Hundreds of pounds, sometimes a thousand pounds,” comes the reply.

Craig looks at me and says, “That’s not good.”

Minutes later another shrimper passes us, returning to port. “How’d you do?” Craig asks. “We caught 12 shrimp,” he replies, “That’s one-two shrimp.” …

BP’s fading Vessels of Opportunity (VOO) program that has created a false economy for the now out of work fishermen. “BP is buying out a way of life… Generations of shrimping … done.”