Mitigating Impacts of Natural Hazards on Fishery Ecosystems

Louisiana Fisheries and the Hurricanes of 2005

Rex H. Caffey, Richard F. Kazmierczak Jr., Hamady Diop, and Walter R. Keithly, Jr.

doi: https://doi.org/10.47886/9781934874011.ch10

Abstract.—Two of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, made initial landfall on the Louisiana coast in late summer 2005. In the wake of these storms, the U.S. Department of Commerce declared a formal fishing failure and fishing resource disaster and requested Congressional funding for damage assessment and recovery efforts. Initial estimates commissioned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration place the total economic losses to coastal fisheries infrastructure at nearly US$1 billion ($988 million) for the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Accounting for nearly 60% of those losses, Louisiana sustained an estimated $582 million in damages to seafood dealers, processors, and commercial and recreational vessels. In the 2 years following the storms, more than $200 million in federal disaster aid has been provided for regional fisheries recovery. The extent to which these funds will mitigate storm impacts depends largely on how “fisheries failure” is defined. Clearly, the storms tremendous impact has resulted in the unplanned departure of an unprecedented number of commercial fishing ventures; however, many of those businesses were already on the brink of commercial failure because of economic factors. In contrast, the fish stocks themselves have proven resilient, with harvests for certain species as high, or higher than prestorm levels. This paper provides an historical review of the physical and economic conditions facing Louisiana’s commercial and recreational fisheries before and after the 2005 hurricane season. Particular emphasis is placed on Louisiana’s hurricane recovery efforts and the economic issues facing the commercial shrimp fishing fleet in the northern Gulf of Mexico.