By Steve Gorman
COCODRIE, Louisiana (Reuters) - News that energy giant BP has made progress in curbing the flow of oil gushing from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico did little to lighten the mood of downtrodden fisherman along Louisiana's coast on Monday.
"They should have plugged it up in the first place," said Drake Dupre, 48, a gray-bearded shrimp boat captain in the Terrebonne Parish village of Chauvin, as he hosed down his vessel. "They're doing all this stupid stuff first."
Gesturing to his docked trawler, named for his son, Drake Paul, he added ruefully, "Beautiful boat like this -- probably have to cut it up for scrap."
Michael Smith, 46, a shrimp and crab boat owner in the same town, said he was unaware that BP had managed to start siphoning off some of the leaking oil from its ruptured deepwater wellhead.
He has been too busy trying to make ends meet. Fishing restrictions in the area have kept him off the water for two weeks, forcing him to earn what he can by painting and doing odd jobs for a friend.
"He's been helping me out ... giving me a little work, giving me a little money," Smith said. "When I'm finished right there, I'm on the streets."
The financial strain has taken its toll on his marriage. said Smith, the father of two girls.
"Ever since this took place, we're separated now," he said. "Me and my wife are probably going to go through a divorce. I'm going to pick up my clothes at the house."
While little if any oil has yet washed into the marshes, bayous and inlets in the heart of Louisiana's commercial fishing grounds, fishing restrictions have vexed thousands of shrimpers, with some limited areas being suddenly opened one day for harvesting, then closed the next.
"There's a lot of confusion and unpredictability," said Joan Glover, co-owner of the Co Co Marina about 10 miles down the road from Chauvin in the hamlet of Cocodrie. "If the wind is blowing in from the south, everybody panics. If the winds are coming from the north, they kind of relax."
Although much of the region's fishing, shrimping and oyster harvesting has been suspended indefinitely, Glover's facility, one of the largest public marinas in Terrebonne Parish, was a hub of activity.
Some 300 workers, mostly BP and contract employees, as well as National Guard and U.S. Coast Guard personnel, are using the marina as a staging area for efforts to keep oil from the Gulf out of the area's precious inland waterways.
Glover expects the arrival of 300 more workers who will be housed in floating galleys to be brought in. "They're really trying to turn this thing back," she said. "They've been here already a week. They're trying to stay ahead of the curve."
$500 MILLION FOR DREDGING
Fish and wildlife officers who patrol the surrounding bayous and channels to enforce state fishing restrictions -- venturing as far as 70 miles out to sea -- said they have yet to encounter any signs of oil. Officials of the state Department of Natural Resources said the same.
In the meantime, parish officials are pressing for quick U.S. government approval, with assurances that BP will pay the bill, of a plan to build up storm-battered barrier islands offshore as a greater buffer against the spill.
The $500 million proposal calls for dredging roughly 100 million cubic yards of sand from a predesignated area of the Gulf floor to extend the island's shorelines by several miles, narrowing the passes between them.
"The engineering and design work is completed, so if they could waive the permitting ... we could begin island restoration immediately," said parish Councilman Joey Cehan.
Another councilman, Billy Hebert, said the $500 million cost of the project would be a bargain for BP, compared with the estimated $4 billion to $14 billion cost of cleaning up the marshes if they become contaminated.
Similar plans are under consideration in two other areas off Louisiana. The governor's office has said that newly restored shoreline could begin to appear within 10 days.
But shrimp boat captain Casey Arceneaux, 33, just back with a meager catch from a short trawling run, expressed deep skepticism about whether there is still time to save his livelihood. "I know they got to try everything they possibly can do but ... a lot of the damage is already done," he said.
(Editing by Chris Wilson)
