Fishermen hoping for help with Sandy storm losses

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MIDDLETOWN, N.J. (AP) - While Superstorm Sandy did highly visible damage to homes, boardwalks and roads, it also walloped the Northeastern fishing industry, whose workers are hoping for a small piece of any future disaster assistance that Congress might approve.
The storm did millions of dollars' worth of damage to docks, fish processing plants and restaurants. But it also caused millions more in lost wages to boat employees who couldn't work for two to three weeks, to truck drivers who had nothing to transport, and to other assorted industries that service commercial fishing.
The $9.7 billion measure to fund the National Flood Insurance program, passed by Congress on Friday, did not include anything for the fishing industry; a bill the Senate passed in December would have allocated $150 million for that purpose.
The co-op supported 50 families who either work directly for it or in supporting roles. Many of those workers simply did without a paycheck for weeks afterward. The situation was the same at New Jersey's Viking Village port on Long Beach Island's Barnegat Light, where boats were idled after the storm.
"We couldn't get to work for two weeks because the infrastructure was all torn up here," said Bob Brewster, who owns three of the port's 45 fishing boats and estimates he lost between $10,000 and $20,000 in lost catch. "We were just twiddling our thumbs, waiting to get back out on the water. Everybody wants to make a living, and for a while, we couldn't."
"The marinas got beat up pretty hard. There's a 75-foot section of our pier that's just gone," he said.
A strong nor'easter a week after Sandy just made things worse.
"We couldn't get trucks to transport the product," said Dwight Kooyman, who manages two of Viking Village's scallop boats. "I have five guys that work for me that couldn't work that entire time. If they don't work, they don't get paid."
Dale Parsons is a fifth-generation fisherman at the Jersey shore, who owns a shellfish business in Tuckerton, and who used to own a commercial hatchery for tiny clams and oysters on the edge of Barnegat Bay until Sandy destroyed it, causing several hundred thousand dollars' worth of losses.
"It was millions of oysters and clams that won't be spawned next year," he said. "Even if we rebuild right now, it will take a good year, year and a half to get it together. It's going to take a long time coming."
The damage to seafood processors and docks is only part of the industry's problems, Parsons said; he also fears reduced business from restaurants who see fewer tourists this summer and order less seafood.
"I'm just waiting to see what kind of business there's going to be in the spring," he said. "No one knows yet."
Sandy also affected recreational fishing businesses, including coastal bait and tackle shops that were flooded. New Jersey officials are soliciting damage reports from individual businesses to help make the case that they need direct federal grants, not just loans. The state's recreational fishing industry estimates it lost $160 million from the storm.
"The trains weren't running, there was no gas to get out to the docks, so I'd say they lost substantial income," she said.
Gibby Dean, president of the Chesapeake Bay Commercial Fishermen's Association, said the oyster harvest is the best it's been in a long time so good that people are giving up crabbing to go after oysters.

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