Co-owner of P&J Oyster Company, Sal Sunseri, along with 18 of his workers, shucked the last batch of oysters at the 134-year-old establishment last Thursday. Jimmie Dupre, a shrimper from Delcambre in southeast Louisiana began selling his produce online to get a fair price for his catch. A master shucker at ACME Oyster House, Michael Broadway, finds it hard to make oysters look presentable to customers since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
“We need to be a part of this culture; we need to stay. People rely on us. … We pray that things are going to change; BP is going to cap that thing, contain it, and clean it up quick and our estuaries will come back to life real quick,” said Sunseri, according to a local New Orleans newspaper, Times-Picayune.
The late April oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico left many fishermen and local businesses in a desperate situation. Companies like P&J who have served the community and the country for over 134 years, and is said to be the oldest surviving company of its kind, will need to get oysters from other sources than the reliable basins their business thrived on for over a century. Sunseri said the company continues to provide the best quality oysters by searching for other available suppliers.
The small, southeastern town of Delcambre is known for its superior quality of seafood produce, especially shrimp, but now it also faces a struggle. Dupre, a commercial shrimper with 53 years experience, is used to selling his shrimp to the public, but now he has been selling his catch online even before the boats come into dock.
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