Fisherman, restaurants worry about oyster market

NEW ORLEANS — The fear of tainted seafood is affecting more than restaurant menus in the Big Easy.

Some fishers are turning to new ways to earn a living.

Raymond Joseph Fonseca Jr., 58, closed his seafood supply shop because of a lack of oysters and fish.

At 4 a.m. Aug. 16, he and his employee, Elise Kauffman, 25, are about to leave for Mississippi to hunt alligator.

Kauffman said the rest of Fonseca's employees at Des Allemandes Outlaw Katfish Kompany now are employed by BP and cleaning up the water.

Fonseca said in the long run, whatever compensation he gets from BP won't be enough.

Businesses and fisherman affected by the spill are supposed to receive compensation checks from BP that equal the amount of their losses.

He said damages caused by the oil giant have yet to be determined. He doesn't know if the water will be clean or if he will still have a business.

"Come back five years from now," Fonseca said.

Meanwhile, restaurants are feeling the pain of seafood and oyster prices increasing 15 percent to 20 percent thanks to the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

The BP rig released more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from April 20 to July 15.

The state's $2.4 billion commercial and recreational fishing industry was catapulted from usual fishing areas and forced into Plaquemines Parish or outside Louisiana waters.

The fear of tainted seafood kept large areas of the Gulf off-limits for most of the summer.

Restaurants in the famous French Quarter and off Bourbon Street cannot keep up with the supply of fish and oysters to meet the constant demand.

Fonseca used to supply Café Pontalba with crab and oysters, but that ended after the spill.

"We had different repercussions from the spill in any way it was detrimental. To what degree, we have yet to determine," Fonseca said. "In times like this, business moves shakily backwards and forwards. You just have to push forward."

He used industry terms to describe the shrinking market. "Customers back up like crawfish."

With the unknown effect of oil on sea life, Fonseca had nothing to sell.

"I will never put anything tainted on a table," Fonseca said. "If I won't eat it, then I won't sell it."

On Jackson Square in the heart of the Quarter, the open-air Café Pontabla is celebrated for its Creole cuisine. The oyster, a star of Creole cuisine, is no longer served at the historic restaurant.

Manager Mickey Harrison, 28, said the restaurant is no longer getting oysters from gulf waters, and oysters from outside of the Gulf did not meet standards. "They're not a quality product," he said. "We won't supply them until we see something we like."

Harrison said there was a time when the restaurant was able to buy quality oysters at a reasonable price. Since the spill and interruption of the local fishing industry, prices have gone up and quality has gone down. "Their small oysters are not up to the quality of the Gulf area," Harrison said. "They come in frozen; the decision we made was to only sell fresh oysters."

Café Pontalba still serves fish and shrimp. Harrison doesn't expect quality oysters for a long time. Nor does he accept the time frame BP is suggesting for a return to normal fishing in the area. "I don't base it off what they are saying — I think three years," he said.

Fortunately, Café Pontalba did not have to lay off employees. "The momma and papa stores are getting hit the biggest because they are the ones that are dried up," Harrison said. They cannot afford to buy seafood anymore.

Fonseca agreed. "The bigger names (in fishing companies) started going across the Gulf."

But that's not for Fonseca. "I'd rather stay real small and serve quality food," he said.

So for now, Fonseca has moved his focus to the alligator business.

Across the French Quarter at Bourbon Street and Iberville, Bourbon House Seafood has the means to serve oysters, but not at the previous quantity. One of their main suppliers, P & J Oyster Company, shipped them oysters by the gallon each day, but today it is impossible to ship half that amount. Managing partner Steve L. Pettus said because of the oil spill, Bourbon House has to get oysters from new spots on the Gulf like Plaquemines Parish and from as far away as the East Coast. "We have 15 fishing dealers," he said. "Some of the fish we get on the East Coast is expensive."

Chef de cuisine J.N. Zink said the shape and taste of the oysters have changed. "It's good. It's just smaller and has a different salt content," he said.

Bourbon House's crabmeat supplier was seriously damaged by the spill because of where the crabs are collected in the bay. Zink said the restaurant now serves frozen crabmeat.

He said redfish came off the menu because oil has entered the redfish marshes.