The annual blessing of the fleet in Dulac, Louisiana. The event celebrates the tradition of those families who earn their living as shrimpers, and centers around prayers for a safe and bountiful brown shrimp season.
I drove down Bayou Lafourche for a tryout of sorts. Simply put, I spent a day photographing whatever caught my eye, and meeting people along the way. I’d say this is a more direct and cornier style than I’m accustomed to, but I like being direct and corny.
Also, I’m using Instagram? I’m trying to avoid using the photo filters, but I have a suspicion that the purposely contrasty and poor color balance of the iPhone camera necessitates a certain amount of fiddling.
Matt Smith, an employee of Charter Cable company, disconnects service from a home in Pointe-aux-Chenes.
“I would rather stay up on that pole, for hours any day, in the beating sun or pouring rain, than flip burgers at McDonalds,” he told me. He says he prefers this to his previous job because he is on his own, with no one to look over his shoulder and tell him that he’s salting the fries wrong.
He went on to tell me about the GPS “tattlers” that are installed on his car, monitoring his every move and informing his employer of his whereabouts 24/7.
But hey, at least no one is breathing down your neck.
Students participating in an alternative winter break at the University at Buffalo placed Terrebonne parish’s spare Christmas Trees in the Intracoastal Waterway as part of coastal restoration efforts.
Placing the trees in the wooden cribs is intended to catch silt in the water, hopefully allowing it to build and let organic materials grow in new marshland. Parish President Michelle Claudet says about it, “This is an actual way in which our citizens can participate to prevent the degradation of our coast and our environment.”
I’ve met plenty of locals who are skeptical of the process.
“Hey, I’ll save you some time and let you photograph me setting a bag of money on fire,” said a co worker, “Because that’s all that Christmas Tree stuff is doing, burning money.”
The results were visually underwhelming, but according to LSU studies cited in this article, the process can build a half inch of sediment every year.
In related news, the first draft of the 2012 Master Plan for Louisiana Wetlands was released, with time allotted for public commentary.
Today’s sunset will bring an end to what many fishermen have called the worst fall white-shrimp season in recent memory.
State biologists say there’s no official data yet on how bad the season was or what may have caused it. Many shrimpers remain worried that the oil spill and chemicals related to the cleanup caused low shrimp catches, though there’s no official evidence to back that up.
There’s no doubt, however, that the slump comes at a bad time for shrimpers, who have battled low prices for their catch, competition from imported seafood, high fuel prices and multiple disasters, including hurricanes and the BP oil spill.
more from article by Nikki Buskey
At the unveiling of the Acadian Deportation Cross Monument, in Houma, Louisiana, Richard Laurin of Nova Scotia cheers while holding an Acadian flag.
