A year ago in May, Joseph Doan sold 400,000 pounds of shrimp from his Intracoastal Seafood dock.
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| Fisherman wait to file a claim with BP on Tuesday at the claim center in New Iberia. |
This May, he says he sold only 40,000 pounds because the shrimping grounds that his fishermen work have been closed and re-opened multiple times after the Gulf oil spill.
Despite multiple attempts to file a claim for his economic losses, Doan says he still hasn't received a single penny from BP.
Doan's frustration represents a growing disconnect between locals who say they have to fight BP claims adjusters for fair compensation and the company's public stance that it is honoring all legitimate claims. For those who make their living in the Gulf's waters, the claims are worth thousands of dollars and can mean the difference between surviving or closing up shop.
Doan, a native of Vietnam who has been in the United States for 35 years, says he provided tax and income documents to the BP claims center proving his past income, but he has yet to receive any money.
Each time he calls to check on his claim, he says, he is told he's not in the system and needs to get another claim number. He has four claim numbers.
"I think they're giving us the runaround," he said.
Attempts to speak with someone from the Incident Command Center regarding the claims process for this story were unsuccessful, but late last week, two officials with BP and the Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center told The Daily Advertiser that no claims have been denied. Advertisements from BP running in newspapers, TV and radio tout, "We have promised to honor all legitimate claims and we will."
Doan and others think otherwise.
A Vermilion Parish deckhand that Doan knows was told last week he does not qualify for compensation from BP even though he's been out of work because of the spill.
The man worked as a deckhand on a shrimp boat for 10 years. Last year, he worked as a welder but this year is back as a deckhand. Doan said that the man was told the reason he won't get a BP check is because he wasn't a fisherman last year.
Clarence Duplessis, a fisherman from Plaquemines Parish, told the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Monday about his experience trying to get compensated for his losses.
Duplessis provided BP claims adjusters with thorough documentation that he lost $27,000 in May because he was unable to fish. The company only gave him $5,000 for May but said he may be eligible for another payment for June.
"It's a total mess," he said of the claims process.
For 20 years, Tate Grossie of Broussard has shrimped Louisiana's coast, from Cameron Parish to Grand Isle. But with fishing grounds being opened and closed multiple times, he said he wasn't making any money.
Instead, he's contracting with BP and using his six airboats to help with cleanup operations. He's been doing it for three weeks and, as of Wednesday, says he still hadn't been paid.
Grossie did receive $5,000 from BP through the claims process.
"We could make that in a month shrimping," he said. "I was under the impression we would get a check every month."
Chris Griffin can empathize.
Griffin, of Larose, has been shrimping since he was a child. He was only able to shrimp one week this season before the oil spill shut down the waters around Lafourche Parish.
Griffin figures he's losing thousands of dollars because of the spill. Shrimpers fish during the season and save up their money to carry them through the months when they don't shrimp. They should be shrimping now and putting away money for the winter, he said.
"This is more of a disaster than a hurricane," Griffin said. "A hurricane you can clean up and go back to work in two or three weeks."
