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Saving what...?
by David Burley
Friday, Sep. 12, 2003 at 10:04 AM
dburley@uno.edu 504-280-4017
Coastal LA's residents' perceptions of coastal life and land loss.
Saving what…? Coastal Louisiana has shaped the lives and identities of its residents for multiple generations. Residents of the coast, who have been there for generations, are similar to many other Americans. However, they believe they have a unique culture specific to the region that makes them different from many other Americans. Today, as the land erodes so does, they feel, their very existence. Traditional forms of work, such as the fishing industry, change and it is unknown exactly what will replace it. Residents hold a sense of fragility about the place they live and their lives. The commercial fishing industry is diminishing in the region as well as the oil industry which became a big part of these communities in the 1980s. One resident says, “They came in and took what they wanted and left.” Many have left commercial fishing as competition from imports has gotten fierce. However, the work of fishing is viewed as a character trait that is hereditary or acquired but cannot be divested of easily. One resident says, “It’s in the blood and once you’ve got the shrimping in your system, its just what you like to do.” Another resident says, We didn’t get any price for our crop. And they say with the imports – it was really a bad year this year. So, we could really have sold our shrimp boat last year and we built it ourselves and it was kind of hard to do so we kept it.” Residents feel the environment, which includes themselves, is washing away. They feel the issue of coastal land loss is tossed around as a political football and the agencies responsible for mitigating the problem, like the Army Corps of Engineers, exclude residents from the process while only wishing to study the problem and not implement any real solutions. Of course, the Army Corps of Engineers would say they hold community meetings where all issues of coastal restoration are discussed, but if the residents feel alienated from the process then something is wrong. One oyster harvester says, “They don’t want to talk to us they just tell us what they’re going to do.” Meanwhile, developers of high end fishing camps, or what residents say are more like expensive summer homes, are allowed to further develop land requiring the draining of that land. This only serves to exacerbate land loss. So residents wonder… what is coastal restoration really about. By David Burley
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