Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_19 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
ien Hurricane Katrina hit Mississippi's Gulf Coast, the strong winds pushed Tom Becker's charter boat near a tree top, almost 15 feet off the Tchoutacabouffa River. To help assess the boat's damage, Becker turned to the Missisippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. "Sea Grant helped us get our business back in order and provided advice," says Becker. "It was the only place I knew to go to get help with my boat. Now I am back in business and have taken groups out 41 times since the storm." Becker is just one of many charter boat captains, commercial fishers, seafood dealers and other constituents who were helped by Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant and Louisiana Sea Grant. "Overnight, we went from our role as educational advisors to storm recovery advisors," says Dave Burrage, extension professor of marine sciences for the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. "Our constituents called us about everything from where to get well water tested to how to get mold off the ceiling." Mike Liffmann, associate executive director of Louisiana Sea Grant, had a similar experience. "It changed my job for the rest of my career," Liffmann states on the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center Web site. "It is hard to see nonpoint source pollution in marinas as a priority when the marinas no longer exist." Fishing Industry Losses Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the center of commercial and recreational fishing along the Gulf of Mexico coast, which produces 10 percent of the shrimp and 40 percent of the oysters consumed in the United States, according to a 2005 Congressional agrant.org
Text Appearing After Image:
Research Service (CRS). "Initial losses to seafood production from Katrina were estimated at $ 1.1 billion for Louisiana and may exceed $200 million for Alabama, exclusive of infrastructure," the report says. "Mississippi's losses were comparable to Alabama. Additional damages from Hurricane Rita may bring Louisiana losses to nearly $2 billion." In Orleans Parish, which includes the city of New Orleans as well as several small communities, Pete and Clara Gerica lost their home where they also processed seafood. The strong winds from Katrina destroyed their large shrimp boat, small craft and mullet boat. "Only my 21-foot skiff survived," says Pete Gerica. "My mother and dog ended up in a tree across the street, and my wife held onto to a floating dock. I used the boat to get them out."

Note About Images