NEWSROOM
Hurricane
Recovery Efforts Aided by Alaska
March 8, 2006
A gift from
Valdez, Alaska, is about to make a splash with fishermen in Plaquemines
Parish. A 60-ton Marine Travelift, used to move fishing boats
in and out of the water, will officially be turned over to the
parish government
on March 13.
Hundreds of
fishing vessels were pushed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita into
areas from which – when the storms subsided – they
could no longer reach the sea. Federal, state and local governments
have been pulling boats from bayous, backyards and parking lots
and stockpiling them on dry land in a local boatyard owned by
the parish. But there has been no way to put the boats back into
the water. The boatyard lost its launching equipment
in the storms, and new equipment cannot be obtained quickly.
Through the
combined efforts of Louisiana Sea Grant Extension agent Rusty
Gaude’, the Washington and Alaska Sea Grant programs, the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Pacific Coast Congress
of Harbormasters (PCCH) and Valdez Port Director Alan Sorum, the
idea of donating a surplus Travelift owned by the port and city
of Valdez emerged. Among the other agencies and organizations
involved in the acquisition were the Louisiana Department of Wildlife
and Fisheries and the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing
Board. Additionally, the Alaska Fishing Industry Relief Mission
(AFIRM), PCCH and the Alaska Sea Grant program
contributed funding toward the lift’s transportation.
The Valdez
City Council approved the Travelift donation in December. Carlile
Transportation of Alaska provided transportation of the lift from
Valdez to Houston, Tx., and Packard Truck Lines of Plaquemines
Parish transported the lift on the final leg of its 4,500-mile
journey. Marine Travelift Corp. of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., also contributed
to the effort by providing the services of one of its technicians,
Dennis Sargent, for disassembly and reassembly
of the lift, which arrived in Plaquemines Parish in late February.
Dedication
ceremonies will take place Monday, March 13 at 11 a.m. at the
Plaquemines Parish Empire Boatyard, located off Rose Marie Street.
The Travelift,
which served Valdez for several years, is capable of lifting a
60-ton boat and putting it gently back in the water.
Since its
establishment in 1968, Louisiana Sea Grant has worked to promote
stewardship of the state’s coastal resources through a combination
of research, education and outreach programs critical to the cultural,
economic and environmental health of Louisiana’s coastal
zone. Louisiana Sea Grant, based at Louisiana State University,
is part of the National Sea Grant Program, a network of 30 universities
in each of the U.S. coastal and Great Lakes states and Puerto
Rico/U.S. Virgin Islands.
AFIRM was
formed by fishing interests at the suggestion of U.S. Senator
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who is the honorary chair of its advisory
group, and Marc Jones, a seafood industry consultant.
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