[StBernard] A year later, St. Bernard oystermen face smaller harvests, unpaid claims

[Westley Annis]

A year later, St. Bernard oystermen face smaller harvests, unpaid claims

Posted on April 19, 2011 at 6:25 PM

Updated today at 7:01 AM

Sobering trip finds marshes still polluted from spill

Scott Satchfield / Eyewitness News

ST. BERNARD, La. -- It's typically a fruitful time of year for oystermen in
St. Bernard Parish, but things have changed.

"We're not moving much product at all," said Marty Melerine, who has been in
the business for nearly 30 years. "There's just a fear factor of Louisiana
oysters."

Melerine said his orders have plummeted to almost nothing. And just as
troubling, he said, it's tough actually finding live oysters.

Harvesters in St. Bernard Parish say the oil spill wreaked havoc on the
area's oyster population, a problem harvester Brad Assavedo quickly gauges
by how many full sacks he brings in.

"It's terrible, real terrible," he said. "We used to catch 150, 160 a day.
We barely got anything today."

That's why Marty Melerine is gearing up -- not to harvest, but to take
environmental action.

Melerine said he spent $100,000 of his own money to buy truckloads of rocks,
which he plans to dump in the Biloxi Marsh area. He hopes the rocks will
help replace reefs that were lost over the past year.

Along Highway 624 in Hopedale, many more huge piles of rocks sit, waiting to
be deployed, as others join in the attempt to rebuild these critical
habitats for oysters.

Melerine estimates that -- combined - oystermen have spent about $1 million
on the project, without BP's help.

He calls the move a "big gamble."

"They didn't pay for rocks. They don't wanna pay for rocks," Melerine said.
"Hopefully it works out for us, but we could lose everything we got there."

Elsewhere across St. Bernard Parish, similar frustrations continue.

"You know, we have over a thousand claims that just are not settled yet and
we're not getting any feedback in terms of what we can do to push those
claims through," said St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro. "We want
to make sure that people know that it's not over."

The financial challenges are taking a major toll on some, who hoped the
claims process could help keep them afloat.

It hasn't, however, leaving many St. Bernard residents with the fight of
their lives.

"I sat across the table from (claims administrator Kenneth Feinberg). I
asked him questions. He looked me square in the eye and said he was gonna
take care of it," Melerine said as he began to choke up. "Mr. Feinberg, you
haven't taken care of it yet. The (Gulf Coast Claims Facility) hasn't taken
care of it yet. There's people down here hurting, that need help."