Fish merchants close one by one in New Orleans

By Staff Writers
Westwego, Louisiana (AFP) May 25, 2010 The fast-encroaching oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is forcing fish merchants to close one by one in Louisiana’s huge Westwego seafood market. “I’m closed because I couldn’t get any crabs,” said Michelle Chauncey, who pulled down her stall’s rolling metal door on Friday. Along the Westbank Expressway that follows the Mississippi River, a succession of 26 seafood stalls forms the “shrimp lot” market. These small wooden stores usually offer an assortment of fish, crabs and shrimp every single day of the week. But six stores have already closed their doors over the past 10 days. “I really don’t know what we are going to do. I prepare for the worst, I hope the best,” said Chauncey, 41, as she roamed in front of “The Crab Shack,” her yellow stall mounted with a giant blue crab. “It’s not just us; it’s going to be a domino, it’s everybody.” Her supplier, who usually has 35 fishermen, now only relies on six. The rest are working for BP, which operated the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig that drilled a now blown out well gushing crude into the Gulf. Chauncey lives in Grand Isle, where the oil washed ashore on Thursday. “Nobody wants to trust that seafood is safe,” explained the mother of two as she pointed to the large, and now deserted, parking lot where merchants, cooks and customers usually gather. …