NEWSROOM
Marine
Extension Agents Honored for Recovery, Conservation Work
March 22, 2007
BATON ROUGE
– Three Louisiana Sea Grant (LSG) Marine Extension/LSU AgCenter
agents are the recipients of the 2006 Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean
Sea Grant Extension Network’s Outstanding Group Achievement
Award for their response and continuing recovery work following
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. One of the three also is the recipient
of the 2006 Conservation Educator of the Year Award in the 43rd
Annual Governor’s Conversation Achievement Recognition Program,
conducted by the Louisiana Wildlife Federation.
The three
receiving the Extension Network award are Albert “Rusty”
Gaudé, associate area agent for St. Bernard, Plaquemines
and Orleans parishes; Kevin Savoie, area agent and fisheries agent
for the Southwest Louisiana Region; and Mark Schexnayder, area
fisheries agent and hurricane program coordinator for Southeast
Louisiana. Schexnayder also received the Conservation Educator
honors.
The 2005 hurricane
season brought unprecedented devastation to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Despite all three agents being displaced by either Hurricanes
Katrina or Rita, they quickly returned to assist their constituents,
most notably fishermen and local governments.
“They
rapidly became critical points of contact, and their roles in
this difficult process are certain to serve as models for other
Sea Grant programs confronted with similar circumstances in the
future,” said Mike Liffmann, LSG associate executive director.
“Rusty, Mark and Kevin provided leadership, advisory and
technical support to many of the responding agencies and nongovernmental
groups involved in the recovery effort. They saw what others didn’t
see and drove a direct path to what needed to be done.”
Among the
trio’s recovery efforts were: soliciting a Marine Travelift
from Valdez, Alaska, to get commercial fishing boats back into
the water; aiding operators of critical seafood processing facilities
in reopening; acquiring industrial ice machines to serve the needs
of fishermen in Cameron, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes;
aiding in the relocation of a displaced Lake Pontchartrain Commercial
Fishermen Association fleet; and storm debris marking and removal
on Calcasieu Lake.
Many of their
efforts are chronicled in a short documentary titled Sister Storms:
A Louisiana Sea Grant Response. The film is available for viewing
at www.laseagrant.org/comm/media.htm.
As Outstanding
Group Achievement Award recipients, the trio will represent the
Gulf region in a national awards competition. The national winners
will be announced in the fall.
Schexnayder
was honored with the Conservation Educator award for his pre-and-post-Katrina
work in New Orleans City Park, among other efforts. Prior to the
2005 hurricane season, Schexnayder aided in the rehabilitation
of the lagoons in the park and Bayou St. John. Following Hurricane
Katrina, he coordinated volunteers helping restore the park to
its pre-storm condition through plantings and debris removal.
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 LSU, is part of the National
Sea Grant Program, a network of 32 university-based programs in
each of the U.S. coastal and Great Lakes states and Puerto Rico.
<<
Back to 2007 News Page
