New Orleans Oyster Processor Runs Out Of Oysters

[Robbien]

Source: Vermont Public Radio

Oysterman Mitch Jurisich first spotted oil floating on the water above his beds at 7:30 in the morning. It was just yards away from where his grandparents first settled after emigrating from Croatia almost a century ago.

"This is the last of our areas that we had open from our family to harvest oysters," Jurisich says. "We were fortunate enough to have one little slice of pie left that we were still farming from, and that slice of pie now is gone.

<snip>

Out at his beds, Jurisich looked at the water and saw rust-colored, "fudgy" oil. "It's disgusting," he says.

As soon as he saw the oil, he called wildlife officials, who quickly closed the area to fishing -- making official what he already knew.

Then he called his friend Al Sunseri, the president of P&J Oyster.

"I said, 'It's over.' And he's like, 'What?' And I said, 'It's over.' I said, 'I found oil.' He's out of oysters now. You know it's sad, it's really sad. And we're men, but you could tell that on the inside there was a part of Al that was wanting to shed a tear. There's a part of me that wants to shed a tear," Jurisich says.

The other six or seven oystermen Sunseri normally buys from had already been shut down by the spill. Jurisich was his only source left.

"I was planning to get product from him," Sunseri says from his office in the French Quarter. The oysters were supposed to be delivered on Tuesday. "So that just cuts off that last bit of the group that we're able to get our oysters from."

Sunseri, who seems to be on the phone constantly, tells his contact at one of the grocery stores he supplies that it was the last day his company will be shucking oysters.

"We don't have any prospects to get anything else in to shuck," he says.

Read more: http://www.vpr.net/npr/127746917/

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This is more than four paragraphs but the Vermont Public Radio site said it was okay to share the article.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "This is completely natural." - Rush DraftDodger Limbaugh (R)

"If you follow Republiconomics (smirk) you would understand that this is all natural and will have zero impact on the $40 million a year in corpororepublicon payola that goes into my greasy paws for spouting republicorporate propaganda points. So stop whining about your oysters, and pull yourselves up by your own freaking, um, clamshells, or whatever."

- Rush DraftDodger Limbaugh (R)

[RedRoses323]

12. Rush is

a pimp.....

[xchrom]

2. how fuckin sad is that? nt

[montanto]

6. It's really fucking sad. Really. Nothing else to say.

[Javaman]

3. One more beginning to yet another end.

we will see and hear about many more of these ends.

[Clintonista2]

4. They should sue BP

[primavera]

22. I hope they can

Our laws have been written by corporations for so many years now, it's become almost impossible to hold them accountable for any crime they commit.

[MountainLaurel]

5. Just talking about this last night

Mr. Laurel and I live in New Orleans and rode past P&J. Mentioning this article, he noted that had avoided oysters since this thing began because even though several oystering areas were still open, he just didn't trust that they were safe.

[Submariner]

7. The oysters will ingest the petrochemicals and

the cancerous tumor cell development will begin. As filter feeders, the oysters are screwed anyway since their planktonic food items are fucking dead anyway.

Thanks BP.

[trof]

20. Yeah, but maybe we'll get black pearls.

Sorry.
My bad.
That was tasteless.
But I live down here where the oil hits the beach and we're so ska-rude that we have to crank out the black humor.

I have an oyster experimentation reef off my dock on Wolf Bay (AL).
No oil yet, but I'm worried.
:-(

[CountAllVotes]

8. thanks for fucking up another life and livelihood BP

you really do suck. Do you still want your life back Tony Hayward? :mad: :argh: :grr:

[RadiationTherapy]

9. When Tony Hayward gets his life back, he'll be a multimillionaire.

He is a winner, unless one is religious, his life is and has been a victory.

[KamaAina]

10. Back to the lettuce po'boy, I suppose

Back in the Depression, the truly destitute would bring a po'boy loaf dressed with lettuce, tomato, mayo and nothing else to work, hoping to mooch a slice of meat off a coworker: the NOLA version of the "wish sandwich".

This is about the end of oyster season, anyway (remember the old adage about months without an 'r'?) -- but will there be another? :scared:

[mimitabby]

11. how many MILLIONS of oysters are dying?`

I feel sorry for the men... but what about those poor little crustaceans who are STUCK there....

[Titanothere]

16. right on, those poor little crustaceans should be on my plate with some tabasco

[primavera]

24. Thank you

I keep marveling at how many people, even here on DU, seem to be concerned exclusively with the impact of the spill on people's employment opportunities and are comparatively indifferent to the extermination of entire species resulting from the spill.

[RedRoses323]

13. New Orleans is my second home...

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[E_Olenska]

14. Oysters are a part of New Orleans life !!!!!

I'm proud to call New Orleans my home. I have lived here for the better part of 60 years. P&J Oysters has always been my favorite oyster vendor. We would buy their fabulous oysters by the sack! The Sunseri family are wonderful people. So, when I saw this video, it reduced me to tears. I thought the other man-made disaster - the failure of the Corps of Engineers levees - was hard to endure. (I lost my beautiful home in the Lakeview section, and I am blessed that I have restored my home and moved back.) But this new man-made destruction is more than I can bear. BP should be held accountable for what they have wrought, but I have a terrible feeling that our "gummint" will not really do a damned thing. They get so much money from corporations, and they march to their tune, so they'll probably do what they usually do....drag their feet and equivocate. What else could we expected from such bought-out, sold-out, soul-less traitors?

[Robbien]

19. Welcome to DU E_Olenska

Sorry it had to be under such sad circumstances. Like many others, I am heart sore for what is happening to your wonderful city.

:hi:

[CountAllVotes]

21. Welcome to the DU E_Olenska

such a very sad/desperate situation! Makes me very angry.

My grandmother lived in New Orleans most of her life. Now there is nothing much left to come and see much less eat thanks to BP!

I agree with you 100% btw!

:kick:

[Jefferson23]

15. This country needs to have a national funeral for all the damage that has

taken place in the name of FREE MARKETS and DEREGULATE EVERYTHING IN SIGHT fucked up greed.


I feel so bad for these people, more victims ahead too.

[wordpix]

17. good idea, let's set a national funeral date---how about Labor Day?

that's the kickoff for political events every year, anyhow. And we can mourn the loss of jobs for every industry in the Gulf.

[Jefferson23]

18. Labor Day would be good, we are suppose to be a country for the

people, not exclusive to corporations. I wish the AFL CIO would brand Labor Day this year marking it a day of mourning
until more Americans fight back, in the streets with protests.

[Odin2005]

23. I heard this on MPR yesterday. it made me so angry!

FUCK BP!!! :grr: