May 10, 11:34 AM EDT
Abruptly unemployed fishermen struggling to get byBy VICKI SMITH and HOLBROOK MOHR
Associated Press Writers
HOPEDALE, La. (AP) -- Manuel Meyer was forbidden from dropping his crab traps in the Gulf, and he couldn't just sit at home. He made his way to Breton Sound Marina, hoping to load up on orange plastic boom and somehow help corral the massive oil spill that could doom his livelihood.
He hadn't been called to work that day, but he figured he'd come anyway and try to make some money. After five fruitless hours watching other commercial fishermen load up and ship out, he had no choice but to leave.
"I don't know how I'm gonna feed my family. I don't know how I'm gonna pay my bills. We live week to week," the dejected 37-year-old crabber from St. Bernard said - still unemployed, fishing grounds still off limits. "How do you go home and tell your child, 'You can't eat today because Daddy didn't make no money?'"
For watermen across the Gulf Coast, waiting is now a way of life. Waiting to see where the slick that began after the deadly April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig will land. Waiting for crab and shrimp zones to reopen. Waiting to make some money.
It's a scene reminiscent of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which tore through fishing villages and seafood harvesting waters in August 2005. ..........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GULF_OIL_SPILL_GETTING_BY?SITE=NVLAS&SECTION=BUSINESS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT