One year after Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Collins family tries to hang onto‌ oil spill, Collins family tries to hang onto 90-year-old oyster business
7/11/11 10:15 AM
maturity in the typically higher salinity water in time to meet the increased demand of the holiday season. "You see how this big one's pretty, but these three are kind of skinny and flat?" Collins asked, holding David Grunfeld / The Times-Picayune Levy Collins unties the Capt. Wilbert oyster lugger before heading out to Snail Bay.
up a gnarled, mud-dripping cluster of oysters. "I would have broke them off and left them till next year. They'd (have) all been grade-A oysters."
Collins tossed the oysters overboard and wiped a forearm across his stubbled face. His tan appeared to have deepened in the few hours since arriving on Snail Bay. A grandfather at 39, Collins isn't shy about his burdens or his distaste for authority. Both add an edge to his boyish, frequently flashed smile, which one imagines is as useful for getting into trouble as out of it. "Whether it's the fresh water or dispersants, it's all due to the oil spill, because without the oil spill, I would have sold these puppies this year, " Collins said, standing over yet another mound of dead oysters. The Katrina losses were easier to take because, as he put it, "Mother Nature always gives you it back. What BP can't do is give me anything back." ........ The 2010 oyster season was supposed to bring the Collins Oyster Co.'s lean post-Katrina years to an end, thanks in large part to the restored health of the beds in Snail Bay. The fishing closures triggered by the oil spill dashed those hopes, and the 2011 season is proving to be even more grim. Oyster production in Louisiana was down more than 55 percent in 2010 compared to 2009, according to Wildlife and Fisheries, putting Louisiana No. 2, behind Washington state, as the country's top domestic oyster producer. The same period shows a nearly 50-percent dip in dockside value as well. The oyster catch the first five months of 2011 was 18 percent of 2010's total and just below 9 percent of 2009's, according to Wildlife and Fisheries.
Industry observers believe the influx of fresh water from the Bonne Carre and Morganza
Oyster harvester video profile: How the Gulf oil spill has affected me
spillways, which were opened this spring to
Times-Picayune video profiles Nick Collins, a fourth-generation oysterman
relieve pressure on levees as the Mississippi River reached historically high levels, will cause even greater damage to this year's Louisiana oyster crop.
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