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Sketch of P&G Oyster Company

Fighting to Survive in Louisiana

By Samantha Luce, Florida – August 2010
          Al Sunseri is no stranger to a hard day’s work. These days, however, he hasn’t had much work to do. Operations at his P&J Oyster Company, the oldest continually operating oyster processor and distributor in the country, have been halted. Prospects for the future look dismal.
          Over 95% of the areas P&J Oysters drew their production from are closed due to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April. As cleanup efforts are still underway, there is no foreseeable end to the ban, setting up a chain of disaster according to Sunseri. “We can’t provide the service we’ve always done for generations and so [people] are going to have to look elsewhere. We just have to try and keep oysters in the marketplace and sell them at a loss.”
             P&J, which dates back to 1921, was started by Sunseri’s grandfather.  Today Sunseri shares ownership of the business with his brother and his son, who started working at P&J in 2004 and is poised to inherit the family legacy. The company, in business for 134 years is also a New Orleans icon – part of the fabric of New Orleans history. 

            But all that history received a kind of knock-out punch from the spill and it hasn’t been so easy to bounce back. “I’m not a victim type person,” Sunseri said. “I’ve worked hard my entire life and so feeling this way is really new to me.” 

            News reports inform us that the Sunseris are not alone. Even the President’s dip in the Gulf during his 27 hour vacation on the West coast of Florida and BP’s so-far successful capping of the oil well may not be enough to get people to buy seafood from the Gulf. And many Louisianans worry that once the headlines disappear, so will the help.
          Ewell Smith is one of those people.  As Executive Director of the Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board in Louisiana, Smith has taken on some new roles as a result of the spill – not only is he promoting Louisiana’s seafood he’s also defending it.

            In actuality, Smith says that negative public perception will likely cause more damage to the Louisiana seafood market than the oil itself – and that kind of misinformation can be devastating. One month after Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana received a clean bill of health from several regulatory agencies.  However, it took nearly two years to rebuild the brand of Louisiana seafood.
            “The situation with this thing is much worse,” Smith said.  ”We’ve had 24 hour real time video of this pipe leaking and that image has been spread around the world. You don’t have to say a word – all you have to do is see the image. ”
            According to Smith Louisiana’s seafood is undergoing intensive scrutiny. “I would argue that the food coming from our region of the country is being tested probably more than any other food source in the US at this point in time,” states Smith.

            The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Development of Health and Hospitals from three different states, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the food sciences departments in three different states are examining the fish from the Gulf for any signs of oil or other contamination. “[So far] we’ve gotten a clean bill of health,” Smith said.  ”There are no hydrocarbons and no signs of dispersants in our food.”
            Nonetheless, Smith believes that returning the markets to normal will require informing people about the facts and studies that show the seafood is safe. “The only way we are going to rebuild our markets is through extraordinary levels of testing for a sustained period of time. We need to come together and educate the people collectively to help not just Louisiana but the entire Gulf coast.”
            Further contributing to this lack of understanding is the fact that people don’t realize that the spill affected many other industries, most notably and ironically the oil industry in the region.  The government’s six-month moratorium on offshore oil drilling caused an economic disaster hard to fathom by people living in other parts of the country. Currently set to end November 30, there are indications that the Obama administration may extend it for an indeterminate amount of time.
            The moratorium gives the illusion of retribution to the oil industry yet the situation is quite different. The oil and seafood industries in the Gulf survive in a delicate balance of coexistence, and what hurts one, hurts the other.
             ”Our brothers, cousins, and aunts work in the oil business,” said Smith.  ”So while our fishermen have already been knocked down to their knees, now the administration is taking away their [family’s] income from oil.  Those are the only two major businesses that support these coastal communities.” 
            Louisiana supplies about one-third of the nation’s natural gas and oil. Further, the industry provides about 60,000 jobs, with each of the 33 oil rigs in the Gulf employing about 1,500 people. Since the enactment of the moratorium on May 28, eight of these rigs have signed contracts to leave the Gulf and reopen in other emerging international markets.
            “This is going to be absolutely devastating to our country and to our state,” warns Smith. “I don’t think people have grasped just how big this is. BP put aside 20 billion dollars for the spill, but this is not a 20 billion dollar challenge.  This is a 100 to 200 billion dollar challenge.”
            According to Smith, the impact of the moratorium on the Gulf region will produce the worst cause and effect scenario. “It will open the door wide for foreign oil dependency if we cannot maintain our markets.” Moreover, Smith said that imported oil will likely come through Louisianan ports, where oil barges pose a greater risk of environmental contamination than any of the current Gulf oil rigs.
            Smith went on to comment that when 29 people tragically died in a West Virginian coal mining accident in April, the administration didn’t close down the coal mining industry. However, right after the spill a moratorium immediately restricted drilling by all companies in the Gulf, regardless of their adherence to protocol and good records of safety.
            “This is a political agenda in place,” said Smith. “I’m very moderate but I cannot believe we are dealing with this issue on top of the oil crisis issue.  [The administration is] pushing green alternative fuel sources. But those alternatives are not ready.”
            Smith however, is not totally pessimistic. “I tip my hat to our culture,” he said. “We survived through Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike. All the time we’ve fought hard. It’s just how much more can we possibly take?” 
              Faced with the possibility of permanent closure, Sunseri seems ready to fight to preserve the rich culture and history of his family’s business and the people it has served for eight generations. “I don’t get angry and I don’t get worried – I learned that’s wasted energy,” he says. But Smith worries about businesses like P&J. “How do you replace family history if it’s lost? That’s something that BP could never do – I don’t care how deep their pockets are. There’s not enough money to fix that.”

 Check out ways you can help Louisiana’s fishermen by going to www.friendsofthefishermen.org – Donations go directly to the fishermen.

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