2010-05-17 CNN
Small amount of oil has hit the beaches, the tip of iceberg, so to say, but the beaches are just one part of the economic equation. CNN's Reynolds Wolf live in Pass Christian, Mississippi this morning. Reynolds?
I'll tell you, just moments ago we were walking around the dock and actually found this burlap sack. This burlap sack is, is one of hundreds that we would get that would actually come off these boats, like this oyster boat that you see right behind me. This one specifically has a tag on it. It's from Crystal Sea Seafood. Ironically, that's the company that we actually highlighted yesterday. It is one of many in the area that has just been pounded, of course, by this moratorium on fishing, detrimental to both the businesses and their people.
This is our cooler, and this is everything we've got.
Now on a normal day how full would this room be?
It would be full.
So were the sharking line. These processing stations and this machine would be flash freezing thousands of oysters each day. So on just your average a day, you have about 120 people in here shoulder to shoulder? All working like crazy? Like mad? I'm sure it's loud as can be, isn't it?
It is very loud. You can't even hear yourself think.
And now, silence. Virtually all the gulf fishing grounds are closed for business. Jennifer Jenkins said good-bye to half her employees this week. Sixty hard workers. Some she considered family.
That's got to be tough.
You just kind of explain to them what's been happening as best as you can.
All the more frustrating, this year's catch was one of their best since Katrina.
Crystal Seas Oysters was sailing smoothly through the recession. Now just snapshots of better days.
Ever wonder what a four-month supply of oyster shells looks like? Take a look at this. It's huge. Tons of shells. But unfortunately, production has now come to a screeching halt.
And some of the last off the line went to half shell oyster house in Gulfport.
People love the oysters. They love'm.
That's what we, that’s what tourists come here to eat. My restaurant, 75 percent of the menu is seafood.
Sit right there and just gobble up the oysters as fast as I can shuck'm.
While the supply of oysters is quickly diminishing, there's no shortage of frustration for those responsible.
It appears that they could also regulate themselves a little better from ruing a whole coastline because they'll probably walk away from it in much better shape than we all will.
Sixty people laid off. And wrap your mind around that one. Sixty people without jobs. That's 60 people who have to make rental payments. That’s 60 people who have to feed families.
It's a horrible thing to see. And the thing is, Kyra, it's not like they can go across the street and work at a different business because everyone is shut down along much of the coast. It's a very very, very tough thing. And you know if they want to work and stay in this business, they have to go to the east coast or the west coast where things are still operational. But here on the Gulf Coast it's, it’s pandemonium.