Abruptly unemployed fishermen struggling to get by

[marmar]

May 10, 11:34 AM EDT
Abruptly unemployed fishermen struggling to get by

By VICKI SMITH and HOLBROOK MOHR
Associated Press Writers


HOPEDALE, La. (AP) -- Manuel Meyer was forbidden from dropping his crab traps in the Gulf, and he couldn't just sit at home. He made his way to Breton Sound Marina, hoping to load up on orange plastic boom and somehow help corral the massive oil spill that could doom his livelihood.

He hadn't been called to work that day, but he figured he'd come anyway and try to make some money. After five fruitless hours watching other commercial fishermen load up and ship out, he had no choice but to leave.

"I don't know how I'm gonna feed my family. I don't know how I'm gonna pay my bills. We live week to week," the dejected 37-year-old crabber from St. Bernard said - still unemployed, fishing grounds still off limits. "How do you go home and tell your child, 'You can't eat today because Daddy didn't make no money?'"

For watermen across the Gulf Coast, waiting is now a way of life. Waiting to see where the slick that began after the deadly April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig will land. Waiting for crab and shrimp zones to reopen. Waiting to make some money.

It's a scene reminiscent of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which tore through fishing villages and seafood harvesting waters in August 2005. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GULF_OIL_SPILL_GETTING_BY?SITE=NVLAS&SECTION=BUSINESS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Winterblues]

1. He needs to file suit and try and get his fair share of BP's 75 million dollars.

:shrug:

[SoCalDem]

2. BP's "assets" should be frozen..and their executives' pay cut by at least 75%

until the "little people" are made whole again.

There has to be a consequence to the damage they have done..

[gratuitous]

3. Oh, boo hoo

Have these guys thought just once about how this is affecting the people in the corporate suites at BP? No! It's all about them and their precious boats. Can't they imagine how hard it must be to go for a manicure and a facial while thinking about all that sweet, sweet crude just belching up into the Gulf of Mexico? Or the psychological hardship of depositing a hefty paycheck whilst worrying about whether this year's bonus is going to exceed last year's bonus by a satisfactory percentage? Of course not! It's sickening! They're all just worried about feeding their family and stuff, and they don't give a rip about the poor BP executives and their plight.