Fresh Lake Pontchartrain crabs are ready for processing Tuesday in Slidell.  Crabbers convened with state representatives Tuesday in Slidell.  'It helps for them (lawmakers) to become familiar with it so they can make wiser decisions,' said Marty Bourgeois, a biologist at the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Roy Darby holds a crab he pulled out of the lake.  Louisiana fishers supply approximately one-third of the nation's blue crabs, representing a $42 million industry for the state, fisheries officials said.

For Louisiana crabbers, the threats of foreign competition and rising operating costs had posed industry challenges for years. But in a single day, Hurricane Katrina created a host of new issues - and local crab fishers are still grappling with the fallout. "We took quite a hit," said Pete Peterson, chairman of the Louisiana Crab Task Force, who predicted a 40 percent drop in commercial crabbing next year. "People have been wiped out completely, and the money just isn't there to come back." In what marked the industry's first official attempt to lobby lawmakers since Katrina, crabbers convened with state representatives Tuesday in Slidell, providing insight into their trade and the hurricane-induced factors that threaten it. The all-day session, which began at a local crab supplier's business and ended at a Slidell seafood restaurant, was patterned after outings held by state shrimp and oyster fisher groups, which were intended to familiarize legislators with specific branches of the seafood industry, said Marty Bourgeois, a biologist at the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Fuel costs, Katrina take toll on crabbers

 
"This is really the first event for the crab industry," he said. "It helps for them (lawmakers) to become familiar with it so  they can make wiser decisions."

Over a seafood lunch, which included crabmeat au gratin, fried crab claws and crawfish bread, crabbers and wildlife officials touched on some of the than 70 percent of the blue crab problems they've encountered in the past year, including competition from abroad, increased fuel costs and the loss of infrastructure, boats and gear from the hurricane.

Louisiana crab fishers supply approximately one-third of the nation's blue crab, representing a $42 million industry for the state, fisheries officials said.

State crabbers also dominate the local industry, yielding more than 70 percent of the blue crab catches in the Gulf of Mexico.

Earlier in the day, participants - members of the House and Senate committees on Natural Resources - boarded vessels to watch as local crabbers dropped traps and hauled in their catches off Salt Bayou Road in Slidell.

Afterward, they visited a softshell crabbing facility in Slidell to oversee its daily operations.

While many issues are facing the crabbing industry, Bourgeois said he believes that Tuesday's event was a solid first step toward communicating with state lawmakers and ultimately forging solutions.

"By working together, we hope to overcome these challenges and continue making these fisheries important to our state," he said.