Oyster Fishing

Oyster fishing has long been the most prevalent traditional occupation among Croatian men in Plaquemines Parish. Croatians are credited with developing the state's commercial oyster industry, and Luke Jurisich is often called the father of Croatian oyster fishing in Louisiana. Many of Louisiana's Croatian men continue to fish oysters, and some are third- or fourth-generation oystermen. Sons often start fishing with fathers on weekends and summers as children. As adults, they frequently still fish on the acres once leased by their fathers. Fishermen need more acreage today than they did sixty or seventy years ago, though, because the dredges used require more space than oyster tongs did. The oyster industry has undergone many changes in the last sixty years. Some older men like "Captain Pete" Vujnovich remember first-hand the life in the oyster camps and describe the transition from tonging oysters to dredging and the move from shovels to water pumps in seeding oyster beds. Fishing vessels have changed from wooden boats to fiberglass or aluminum boats and have become much more comfortable. Although fishing techniques and equipment have changed, men still make and repair their dredge nets by hand; as one says, "We all have to know it." Other occupational skills include building a reef, seeding oysters, operating a dredge, and oyster shucking. Older fishermen think that the industry is much easier today than it was in their youth and that young fishermen are not as careful today. They took oysters from close to where the people lived, and brought them out there close to the Gulf, and kept them a month before they'd sell them to people. Today, oysters are caught all over." Oysters are now fished year-round, since they can be kept longer with refrigeration. Some Plaquemines Parish fishermen like the Vujnovichs once brought their oysters to market at the wharves in New Orleans, but today refrigerated trucks pick them up at the dock. Fishermen and seafood suppliers feel that the bad publicity oysters have gotten in recent years as possible health hazards has hurt the business. (Ware 1996)

Shrimping

The earliest boats used for shrimping in Louisiana were built on the lines of traditional Mediterranean fishing vessels. Referred to as canots, these sailing boats were fitted with a centerboard, or hinged keel, and could operate in shallow waters. Boats commonly used today for shrimping the inland waters of the coast evolved from these early lugger-style boats. The term lugger comes from the boat's original sailing rig that consisted of a single large lugsail. The modern day lugger commonly seen along the bayous, lakes and bays of Louisiana is a flat-bottomed, shallow draft vessel, which varies in length from 20 to over 40 feet. The engine and wheelhouse, which replaced the centerboard casing of the earlier sailing vessel are set to the stern, with the fish hold located in the forward section of the boat. Questions remain about when and by whom this boat style was first introduced to Louisiana. But it is known that Dalmatian (Croatian) oystermen who settled in the freshwater marsh of southeastern Louisiana in the late nineteenth century popularized it and adapted it to modern shrimping. (Landry 1990)

Shrimping has never been as wide-spread among Croatian-Americans as oyster fishing, but some do trawl for shrimp. The late John Barisich, for example, preferred trawling for shrimp to oyster fishing, and today his son George continues to make his living as a commercial fisherman, primarily by shrimping, although he also fishes oysters at times. Like many commercial fishermen, shrimpers feel their way of life is endangered by increasing government regulations like the requirement that they use TEDs (Turtle Excluder Devices.) Traditional skills include trawl net making and repair. (Ware 1996)